The Dependable One
by Leverne
Summary: This is the story of Sheryl Parker who quickly becomes friends with a sweet boy named Stacey Peralta. She slowely finds herself getting involved in the world of skating and the people it holds. Jay Adams story. MA later on.
1. Chapter 1

Lords of Dogtown.

Authors note: I am aware that Stacey works at a Noodle place, but I didn't know first that there were any real info of where his employment were so now I'll just ask of you to either pretend that he's changed workplace or that you never knew the place's name before. As for everybody's age, I've made some adjustments so I could have a little more room for things. Nobody is still in school; everybody has graduated in one way or another. That means that this story takes place in the summer (it's always summer in CA.) when the school is closed for vacation.

Stacey and Tony are 21 years old. Blanca, Peggy and Jay are 19 and Sid, Sheryl and Kathy are 18 years old. Thanks!

Chapter One – No Keychain?

From what she'd gathered, after countless hours of weather explanations from Stacey, it seemed to be a good day for surfing. A mild breeze tickled the palm-trees and the sun streamed in through the window and on to the counter she was leaning on.

"Sheryl! It's your time to do the dishes!" She frowned and turned around towards the voice and away from the ocean view.

"You are SO lying Peralta! I did it two days in a row before yesterday!" When there were no response she grinned to herself and supplied: "Tuesday and Wednesday".

She heard Stacey emit a painful groan and smirked as she leaned in the door-jam to the kitchen. She watched him stare at the piled dishes disgustedly and she couldn't refrain from singing childishly: "Na-na-nana-na".

She got a scowl in turn and smiled amused as she turned away from Stacey tying back his long blonde hair in preparation, and began to wipe the counter in the front of the restaurant.

Sheryl Parker was eighteen years old and lived in California, the self proclaimed Dogtown to be exact. She had three hours left on her shift at 'Larry's Foodcourt' and smiled more then amused at the grumbled curses and scoffs from inside the kitchen. She'd done the dishes two days in a row earlier in the week as a favour, usually they did every other day each, so she felt no guilt in letting him do the dishes two days in a row now.

Sheryl started working not long after her sixteenth birthday, when her father's pay check hadn't been enough to pay the rent, and had started working at 'Larry's foodcourt' three months ago in preparation for the summer. Stacey had already been an employee and they became quick friends thanks to his sweet nature most twenty-one-year-old boys didn't have.

"Hello sweet thang". Sheryl raised her eyebrows at the voice and slowly looked up to find a friend of Stacey's. Tony Alva.

He was leaning against the counter opposite her on his forearms, with a leer, as he looked her up and down. Sheryl fluttered her eyelashes and stretched her lips into a sickly sweet smile, which held promises, and cocked her head to the side.

"Hello pea-brain". In record time Tony's satisfied smirk turned into a scowl and as he straightened, she leaned tiredly with her hip against the same counter.

"Now why the long face?" she cooed and dispassionately realized that this was not like her, and waved a white flag with her next question.

"You want something?" The look in his eyes showed that he'd caught the gesture but he smirked anew and leaned forward so his breath fell on her neck.

"What are you offering?" She quickly took a step back and sneered at his pleased smirk and then turned to yell into the kitchen.

"Peralta! Mr Asswipe is here to see you!" They heard scrambling dishes and a muffled laugh, but there was only genuine joy at seeing his friend when he came out. Stacey shook his head at the two who were caught up glaring at each other, Sheryl with a scowl and Tony with a smirk, and wiped his hands on his apron before slapping hands with Tony over the counter.

"I'll gladly do the dishes" Sheryl sneered with a look at Tony and hurried off to the kitchen and away from the amused Stacey.

"I should have you come by everyday if it get's me out of kitchen duty" Stacey chuckled and shook his head at Tony's scowl to the jibe.

"Don't understand how you can get along with that-" Stacey gave Tony a reprimanding glare and Tony sighed agitated. That girl had been nothing but a thorn in his side ever since Stacey had introduced her to him and the guys just outside this restaurant a coupla of weeks ago.

"_Hey guys, this is Sheryl Parker. She just started working here with me". Stacey was on his break and sat in the outdoor seating together with his three friends, and smiled up as Sheryl came out with a shy grin at all the boys._

"_Hi". She gave off an embarrassed laugh at being put on the spot like that, but greetings in the form of a nod by a blonde boy who sat curled up in his chair, and a smile from a tiny dark-haired boy who didn't seemed to know if he should slouch or straighten by her presence, reassured her some. A dark boy with big curly hair jumped out of his seat and walked around the table to invade her personal space with a leer._

"_I'm Tony. You have to be new around Dogtown cause otherwise I'd already been on your bones". He grinned wolfishly at her stunned face and the blonde's snicker. Sheryl glanced down at the snicker to see his hands tapping an imaginary beat on his jean-clad thigh, before she looked up at the boy in front of her._

"_You do belong in Dogtown". By the looks of the guys around it was a much worse insult then she meant to, but she sneered at Tony as he glared at her._

"_Well you'll fit right in Bitch." Her indignant gasp was merely noted as it drowned in Stacey's "Hey", the tiny dark-haired boy's soft "That was not necessary" and the blonde's distracted laugh. Sheryl stared at Tony for a second longer before offering Stacey and the dark-haired boy a tiny smile and then returned to inside the restaurant. The glittering of her eyes alerted the boys of her tears and Tony felt a clench of guilt before he was quickly distracted by the blonde's urge to go skating._

"Anyway man, me and the guys were planning to go surfing tomorrow morning, interested?" Stacey grinned enthusiastically and slapped hands with Tony again after a few minutes of noncommitical bullshitting.

"Goodbye sweetpea!" Tony yelled spitingly and smirked at the sound of a plate crashing. Stacey sighed and gave his friend a _'Thank-you-for-letting-me-handle-your-shit'_ look and watched Tony swagger out and then skate off along the street.

"I cannot understand how a nice guy like you can be friends with guys like him and that blonde one, Jay?" She sneered into thin air as if they stood before her and Stacey rubbed his forehead tiredly. This was not the first time she'd posed the question, and the explanation "We've been friends forever" wasn't the most descriptive answer he'd like to give.

"They haven't always been the guys they are now-" he smiled amused at her disbelieving scoff and eye roll "-you just have to spend more time with them. Hey!" He grinned widely at the idea that just struck him like an aimed paper plane.

"We're gonna go surf tomorrow, why don't you come down and hang out with us before your shift start?" Sheryl sighed loudly with a tiny whine at Stacey's genuine smile, and nodded grudgingly. Her first shift started at nine so she could handle getting up an hour earlier then usual.

"Great! So remember, down at the beach by six." Sheryl gaped incredulously.

"In the morning?!" Stacey raised his eyebrows at her outburst but she just sighed and mumbled.

"Never mind". She turned into the kitchen but swung out quickly again just as Stacey was leaning back against the counter.

"Your time to do the dishes" she smirked at Stacey's whine as he trudged into the kitchen. He heard Sheryl's muffled voice greet customers and with a long-suffering sigh he continued to scrub one of the many utensils by the sink.

Sheryl on the other hand was smiling at a very big and bulky young man in blue baggy jeans and a black t-shirt who hadn't looked at her for one second and instead glanced around the place.

"Damn that's one good crowd" the guy joked sarcastically and gave her a smirk. The crude look in his eyes was the reason why she didn't joke back.

"We're close to closing, can I get you anything?" She tapped her finger pads on the counter in front of her and shifted her feet. The guy smirked and just ordered two cokes to go and twenty seconds later he had left.

"Weirdo" she mumbled to herself quietly and shook her head before putting him out of her head.

****  
"Last plate Peralta!" Sheryl came stumbling in and threw down the plates on the kitchen counter as if they were burning her, and made a triumphant jump in the air when she was free of them. He chuckled at her enthusiasm and smiled when he saw that she was waiting for him to finish cleaning.

"So where are you off to now?" He turned off the lights in the kitchen and came out to see Sheryl doing the same in the front with a soft humming under her breath.

"What are you singing?" Sheryl swung around embarrassed and waved it off nonplussed and thanked him with a smile as he reached her her jacket. It wasn't cold out by any means, but she always wore or brought a sweater or jacket with her. He'd asked her why once and after a few seconds of twitching she'd replied: "Bad circulation" with an uncomfortable laugh and scurried off.

"You done?" She nodded and watched as he dug out the keys to lock the restaurant and made a few small twirls to the sound of the keys clinking against each other and the lock turning. Stacey made a pull at the door; to make sure it was really locked, and snorted at Sheryl's gentle teasing.

"Can we go now, pwetty pwease?" He glanced at his watch and shoved his hands down his pockets and fingered his recently bought car keys. He smiled in remembrance that he'd said it just like that to Sheryl the other day an she'd laughed and given him a pitying glance: "It doesn't even have a keychain, you got robbed." He'd given her a scowl and a shove at her smirk.

"Hopefully you're fingering your car keys- you know what? I don't want to know cause I'm already getting nauseating pictures so why don't you just get into that thing and enjoy your drive." She smiled affectionally at his tiny enthusiastic grin and turned with a sailor salute.

"Don't forget, six o' clock!" He heard her grumble; regretting that she'd agreed to it in the first place and saw her wave distractly behind her. She breathed in the cool air deeply and scratched her cheek with her shoulder nonplussed as she turned between the streets. She smiled as an old couple passed her by, holding hands and with a shopping bag rolling by the old man's other hand, and turned her head to the side with narrowed eyes when she spotted someone familiar. He stood leaning against a car with five guys around him, all wearing black shirts and baggy jeans, and as the guy raised his head so it caught the light from a nearby streetlight she recognized him.

The weirdo from earlier in the day, and what do you know; he was drinking from one of the cokes he bought. She shook her head and continued down the street, distractedly hearing loud chuckles from the little crowd, by two blocks to the left and then one to the right.

Sheryl and her father Ben lived in a two stories house, second floor merely a big bedroom with a tiny balcony, and a narrow hallway leading to a small bathroom. Ben still slept in the old master bedroom he'd shared with Sheryl's mom Kim, before she left, which were located wall to wall with the kitchen and behind their living room on the first floor. Kim left Sheryl and Ben when Sheryl was eight and had never looked back. Ever since then Ben had begun to get gruffer and gruffer by each passing year and had taken comfort in his corona bottles, making Sheryl take care of the house and dinners.

She looked up to see that the entire lower floor was lit and that the car was in the driveway, her father had to be home. She stepped up on the cement blocks that formed a stair to her front door and slowly walked in, as quietly as possible in case her father was slumbering on the sofa.

"That you Sheryl?" She took a deep breath and yelled back as she took off her sweater and proceeded to the kitchen.

"Yeah it's me dad. You want dinner?" She smiled hesitantly at her father who were seated at their tiny kitchen table with his face freshly shaven, shirt sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened around his collar.

"Hi Sherry-bun-" Sheryl raised her eyebrows way up at that nickname, he hadn't called her that for over a year "-I'm not very hungry but fix yourself something and I'll sit with you". It was a great change from his usual persona, and even though his gruff voice had remained she could feel that things were about to change. Ben Parker was not a tiny man; in fact, he was a very large man. Very short light brown hair stood up straight on his head, from running his hand through it, and his dark blue eyes looked at his daughter as she started together some soup and a grilled sandwich. He sighed and ran his fingers through his short hair yet again nervously. He hadn't done right by his little girl since Kim left him; _'left them'_ he amended in his head, as Sheryl turned around to smile slightly at him. She was a woman now, he felt proud of her, in the same time as he wanted to order her to go back to a years younger so he could be there to see the change happen.

Two days ago he'd stumbled into the house after a ten hour shift at a gas station up in the valley, and had opened the fridge to see a bottle of corona next to a small box of leftover Lasagne with the small note "Your favourite" pasted on.

He'd went up to check on her, realizing with a startle that if she weren't at home he'd have no idea of where she could be. She had been sleeping, outstretched over the entire bed still in her clothes, on top of the covers and clearly exhausted. He had lowered the window as quietly as possible and so that there only was a tiny glitch open and took the moment to look around her room. There were some paintings on the walls, or stood leaning against them by the floor, she had mosaic mirrors and drawn thread between some nails so she could hang up her earrings and placed scarves over her lamps to change the light. He had glanced out and smiled at how she'd decorated the tiny balcony with carpets and pillows. Lastly he had grabbed a blanket to lay over her and brushed away a few stray hairs from her face. That had been the moment he realized that it was time for him to get things together, who knew how long it would be before she would tell him that she was moving out to live her own life.

"Daddy?" Ben woke from his reverie with a shake of his head and turned his head to the left to see his daughter looking at him inquisitively with a piece of grilled sandwich in her hand.

"Hm? Yeah." She smiled and nodded to the newspapers in front of him where he'd spent most of his evening circulating potential job ads. He leaned back in his chair, which creaked under the weight, but didn't bat an eye as he watched her sip on her soup.

"I was circling job ads. I can't continue working at the gas station, in this rate I'll be eighty in a month". Sheryl nodded understandingly and smiled encouraging.

"So what ya' got?" She raised her foot to the seat pad on her chair and leaned her chin on her upturned knee, tearing a piece from her sandwich and took a bite. He told her he had an interview tomorrow morning at ten and then three more in the same area, touching his tie irritably for being too constricting even though it hung all the way down to his chest.

"You know-" she glanced at his tie "-you don't have to wear that tie, or any tie. Just wear something comfortable and just something you'll probably wear everyday to that job." Sheryl blushed a bit at her all knowing tone and tried to play it off casually.

"At least, that's what I did." She smiled and continued to eat with her eyes stuck on her soup. Ben nodded and smiled at her.

"It's a good idea, thanks Sherry-bun." His voice was gruff as usual but he saw a small smile curl her lips as she stood and deposited her dishes in the sink. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned with a sigh.

"I'm going to bed, early morning tomorrow, but what about us eating dinner together tomorrow? Early celebration for you finding a new job" Sheryl smiled happily and hopefully, so Ben nodded in agreement.

"Night Daddy." She placed her hand on his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek as she passed on her way out the kitchen.

"G'night sweetheart." He watched her pad up the stairs to her room before he turned back to look through his newspapers until he heard her turn into her room and went to bed himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: In this chapter, my own character's (which obviously also entails Sheryl and Ben Parker) Michael and Neil steps in and just for some quick info; Michael is 21 like Stacey and Tony while Neil is 24. Michael is crazy about skating and has the luxury of coming from money. He's supposed to be a part of the boys' gang who've skated and surfed together since they were in their diapers. Neil is the protective older brother and you can't really know much about Neil until you see it further along in the story. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter two – Sun Hits The Sky.

She whined loudly at the high ringing of her alarm clock and slammed the 'off' button.

She glanced out through heavy lidded eyes and found it still dark outside and chilly air seeping in through the open window.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed, leaning her elbows on her knees, feeling her eyelids slowly drop. With another whine she stumbled up onto her feet and padded into the bathroom to relieve herself and brush her teeth. She went back into her room and grabbed a yellow halter-top and a pair of her father's old jeans plus underwear and locked herself inside her bathroom and changed, throwing her dirty laundry in the hamper and scrutinized herself in the mirror. She dabbed some concealing powder under her eyes and brushed some soft pink blush on her cheeks, brushed her hair and put it up in a new bun on top of her head, and grabbed her mascara brush. After a few brushes she crept down the stairs, grumbling to herself over the loss of coffee, and took a piece of bread before grabbing a cardigan and shivered through her first steps in the chilly outside air.

The sun had just started to rise and Sheryl couldn't find it in herself to complain over a single thing as the sun hit the sky. She shivered violently when the ocean air hit her face, but she got used to it quickly and it wasn't much later she unbuttoned her cardigan and let it fall to her arms as she rested in the sand, leaning back on her hands, and heard a booming but muffled voice yell something. She narrowed her eyes to the water and saw several figures gupping on the water on top of their surfboards, trying to catch a wave of their own. She could see Stacey under the pier, probably signed that "surfboard catcher" job Stacey had once told her about, since he caught a flying surfboard and handed it to a approaching figure.

She jumped distracted when there was a loud slam behind her from a car door and glanced at the two guys who spared her a single look before they continued down to the shore, and Sheryl scowled when she saw the familiar lurking figure around the car the two strangers just arrived in. She frowned surprised as Jay opened the hood of the car, and leaned in before holding up something (Sheryl knew _nothing_ of cars) with a triumphant noise but froze when he turned to be met with Sheryl standing with her hands on her hips glaring at him.

"What are you doing?" He stared at her quietly nonplussed and passed her with an obvious tone of his voice. "Making sure I get to surf."

Again Sheryl found herself frowning in confusion as Jay paddled out to the others on the water who seemed to be arguing with the two lone strangers. She jumped when a big boulder fell from the air toward the two newly arrivals and crashed one of their boards in half, and asked herself why she wasn't surprised when she saw Tony standing on the pier with another boulder in his hands to throw.

"Hey girlie!" Sheryl turned her head from the unsettling scene and found a large Latin guy frowning at her in a wetsuit.

"Who are you?" She frowned at his tone and slowly walked up to the little area where he was resting and crossed her arms.

"Stacey invited me." The guy chuckled and lighted a cigarette and took a drag. By judging of the smell she concluded that it wasn't just regular tobacco in it.

"Who are you?" she found the courage to ask and made a small move with her leg to show that she wasn't going to back down. The guy took another deep drag, held his breath and answered as he let out his breath: "Chino." He smirked when she realized that the information gave her no true information but was pleased nonetheless.

"And you, girlie?" She could hear rowdy vices approach and answered distractedly "Sheryl" as she held the approaching group under her unwavering attention. They were four guys, probably mid-thirties and gave her annoyed looks as they passed. They looked to Chino who seemed to have forgotten her and breathed out another smoke.

"This is Peralta's girl Sheri-Sheryl?" Sheryl nodded in affirmative when Chino looked to her and continued.

"The only one you need to remember by name is Skip here." Chino pointed to a blonde man in wide glasses who's teeth fascinated her until she remembered her manners.

"Nice to meet you doll-face –oh look at Tony go!" Sheryl turned to the water with his exclamation to look with the men's rowdy arguing over beer bottles and sharing joints. She smiled when she spotted Stacey but winced when he got run over by a wave and glared at the group behind her who jeered at his expense. She gave him a soft smile in greeting and sympathy when Skip ordered him back to under the dock. She swung around angrily when Stacey had sagged to swim to the pier and stormed up to Skip and threw away his beer bottle straight from his hand.

"It's not even seven o'clock in the morning!" She stormed off to the childish 'ooing' and cheers to Jay who seemed to be doing a good job on a wave. She couldn't care less about that boy.

_The four boys sat in various positions, Jay loosely up curled in his seat with a huge grin and had been the last to sit down, Tony was leaning back in one chair and resting a leg __on another in front of him, the tiny brown haired boy sat slouching in his seat with his arms hanging down to the floor on each side of the armrest and Stacey was sitting somewhat properly in his chair with his legs spread tiredly, all waiting for Sheryl to finish their orders. It was ten to five and Stacey had promised the guys some food and had begged Sheryl to fix it for them. Innocent and naive she was she'd agreed under his pleading eyes but were now ready to kill herself, or him._

_Tony was smirking at Stacey, as he commented on Stacey's lack of womanizing, and winked at the boys when Sheryl came out with the four plates from the kitchen. _

"_I'm telling you Stace, you gotta grow a pair or you'll end up like, or god forbid, with, nun Parker here." Sheryl scowled and looked down at his plate while she made a sound that clearly displayed that she was collecting saliva to spit on his plate. She glanced at Jay when she saw him move and glared at Tony who'd caught that moment to grab his plate, and placed her hands on her hips to dare him on the glint in his eyes._

"_But Sheryl here is no nun, she's wearing black lace panties. Saw them when she changed into her jeans didn't I?" Jay spasmed, pleased with his involvement, in his seat after grabbing a frites and the rest of the boys stared at her imploringly when she merely blushed. She turned swiftly and as she stormed in to the kitchen she yelled: "Sod off and do your own dishes!"_

She hoped he would cut himself so the salt water would sting him.

She stomped off to the food court and smiled in greeting to her boss Larry who handed her a freshly made cup of coffee. In spite of being the owner, he always worked the first shift every morning and had always freshly made coffee waiting for her those shifts she worked with him or after.

"Morning Sheryl, you seem.. Awake?" He frowned at her surprised; usually she was like a zombie coming in and therefore the coffee tradition hade begun. She slumped in the stool in front of him and the counter and grumbled.

"Stacey invited me to hang out with him and the losers, but it ended with him getting ridiculed for failing a wave and me throwing away a 'Skip's' beer bottle. It wasn't even seven for crying out loud!" Larry hummed in to his cup in his own way that said he had a opinion and Sheryl made a 'give-it' motion with her hand.

"Be careful around all of those, they might appear to be brainless surfers but they're not harmless and know how to make people do what they want. Look at Peralta." Sheryl sighed and snorted to herself.

"Who names themselves _Skip_? Skipper." They both shared a few chuckles and as the time struck nine Larry said his good luck's and goodbyes.

Around lunchtime another guy showed up to cover for her and physically shoved her out of the establishment so she could take a real break. The noise of skateboard wheels and hollering voices drew Sheryl closer to a tiny playground where Skip stood on a bench with a skateboard over his head smirking down at all the pleading kids around him.

"Here Skip!"

"Me, Skip!"

"I do, please Skip!" It ended with Tony jumping up and grabbing the board and skating off along the boardwalk and then back and ending with a fancy move. He smirked pleased at all the admiring looks and Sheryl shook her head with a sigh, she didn't like the asshole but he did know how to skate. She could see Tony, Stacey and Jay gather next to each other, a picture that made her smile at how good-friends they seemed to be in spite of being so different, and looked as a pretty girl rode up on a bike and smiled at the three boys.

"I grew up Stacey." Sheryl shook her head at the girl's courage and saw Stacey and Jay look at each other and then back at the girl. She saw Jay shove at the boy who were skating on the board Skip had been holding up, and grab the board himself to skate off before he was cut off. He leaned back on his forearms to watch Stacey hold the girl's hand as she tried to skate.

"Go Kathy!" alerted Sheryl of the girl's name and she snorted as Tony skated between the two lovebirds. From the corner of her eye she saw Jay's top hat, which suited him, turn in her way and she was about to look back when a hit to the wire wall beside her and alerted her of a boy's presence.

"You okey?" She crouched down next to him; a tall barbed wire-fence between them, as he sat on his heels and studied his hands and knees.

"Yeah" he breathed and softly blew on his flushed palms.

"You sure?" she chuckled, not unkindly.

"Seems like you had a little tumble." She bit her lip and hoped the guy understood she was just teasing. His embarrassed chuckle comforted her and she smiled as his brown eyes settled on her.

"What's your name?" Sheryl laughed at the direct question but he just shrugged carelessly and Sheryl slowly stretched out her hand to press against the wire fence, palm up. He stared at her cheeky smile, amused, and gently placed his burning palm against hers on the other side of the wire fence.

"I'm Sheryl, nice to meet you-?"

"Michael." He smiled and looked at her with a cocked head.

"Nice to meet you too. You're not like most girl's huh?" Sheryl shrugged, unsure if a response was necessary, but narrowed her eyes at his watch. Her eyes widened and she jumped up to stand quickly.

"I'm sorry Michael. My break ended five minutes ago, gotta run. Nice meeting you!" She smiled before turning and jogging off.

"A little late are we?" Sheryl looked up at the twenty-four year old who was smirking at her teasingly and Sheryl blushed under the attention.

"Sorry Neil" she mumbled and retied her apron around her hips.

"Why? Saw that guy meckoning on you, pulling the 'hurt-puppy' move". He laughed at Sheryl's indignant gasp and danced away from her slap.

"He was not-"

"He was too!" Sheryl smirked right back at his childish statement and Neil scowled.

"Don't underestimate yourself. There are dishes to be picked up at table seven." Sheryl remade her hair into a ponytail and started piling the dishes in her arms.

"I don't get why you're working two shifts in a row all the time, you should be out chasing boys." Sheryl raised her eyebrows amused at the tall boy who grinned charmingly.

"Need the money." He looked to be about to ask something more but Stacey came bustling in, looking flushed. Sheryl shared a mischievous look with Neil and turned to Stacey teasingly.

"Things went good with Kathy?" Stacey looked up at Sheryl who had her eyebrows raised expectantly and a smirk on her lips, progressing in the same pace as his blush.

"It went fine" he mumbled and tied his apron.

The next hour was spent with amused teasing, from both Sheryl and from Stacey who had heard Michael talk about her.

"You cut the check! Thanks!" Sheryl snorted at Stacey's stricken face and smiled at Philaine, Jay's mom, when they locked eyes.

"Sherry! My favourite wine girl!" Sheryl smiled at the radiant woman who stood to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She stumbled and sat down with the help of Jay and Sheryl's hands.

"Boys, this is dear Sherry. Such a sweetheart." Sheryl smiled brightly at Philaine before looking up at Jay's curled up form and a brown haired boy she remembered meeting before, with a smile and a blush.

"You're exaggerating, but thanks." Sheryl smiled and waved goodbye as she left to the sound of Philaine's:

"Far Out!" She'd met Philaine one night when walking home from work and caught one of her groceries as Philaine's paper bag had broken. They'd started talking, it was easy to befriend someone with Philaine's disposition.

"Hello daddyioo." She smiled as she heard her father yell from within the kitchen and hung her jacket over a kitchen chair. Her dad was cooking chicken in the oven and frying vegetables in a frying pan, wearing a huge smile at his daughter when she came in.

"I got it! First interview. I am now a head mechanic." Sheryl squealed and jumped up to throw her arms around his neck in congratulations, both of their spirits lifted and they spent the evening joking and laughing.

****  
The next day as all the kids were at their skating, surfing and horsing around sessions, Sheryl stood joking with Michael and his friends who'd skated by the 'Foodcourt' and swung around when catching Sheryl's light-brown hair from the corner of his eye. Her co-worker Neil stood inside leering behind Michaels back, facing her through the glass, and teasing her.

"So what are you guys up to?" Michael smiled at her, he could easily see that she wasn't interested in him more then as a friend but made a inward shrug. He knew she'd be a good friend. He stepped on his skateboard to grab it in his hand and made a gesture to his friend's boards.

"Skip's just started a skateboard team, so we were out training with our new skateboards." Sheryl smiled at the guys' enthusiasm and made a move to return back inside.

"Have fun, be careful" she warned and he chuckled at her well meaning. He gave her a "Yes ma'm" and a two finger salute before they were off.

"What did you do?" Sheryl looked at Neil who'd sounded just like a thirteen-year-old girl, mad for not having any gossip material.

"He just changed his whole demeanour. He was totally coming on to you and then 'poff!' Nothing!" Sheryl rolled her eyes and tried to hide her amused smile at his waving arms to follow his exclamation.

"Oh would you shut up! He's just a potential friend. He's nice." She still got a mumbled "you're so naive" and then the conversation was dropped. For a few minutes they were busy on both direction and when it finally seemed to quiet down Stacey flew down on his knees in front of her with a pleading face that didn't falter even as Sheryl screamed murder in surprise.

"Oh my god! What the hell are you doing Stace! You scared me half to death!" Stacey remained still in his position, pleading face with entwined fingers in front of him in prayer.

"Please you amazingly beautiful-" Sheryl sighed and crossed her arms "-the very bestest best-friend." He had her there, it was such a compliment and a sweet one that her arms fell and she gave him a bobbing motion with her head, scowling to herself as he smiled and stood up to grab her arms.

"Could you please take my shift?" Sheryl frowned and Stacey held her tighter and hurried to explain.

"Kathy and I are going surfing" and she was powerless to do nothing but smile at his radiant grin. It was infectious. So she nodded and made a head nod for him to go and shook her head amused at his bubbly happiness.

"Go" she laughed and made a move to redo her hair and retie her apron around her waist and rolled her eyes amused when he hugged her with her arms behind her and then rushed out with a nod and greeting to Neil.

When her shift was over, or Stacey's depending on how you looked at it, it was dark outside and since Neil lived on the other side of the town, she was alone. She heard somebody yell out in rage a distance away and was followed by a crash, that didn't sound too far away. She hurried her steps, she hated Dogtown at night, it was such a awful place, and glanced behind her when she heard something behind her. She dug out her keys; the three of them she had, and let them fall between her fingers in preparation of defence but exhaled a relieved breath when she spotted Jay rolling down the street, as she glanced behind her again.

"Well if it isn't little Sheryl Parker?" She rolled her eyes, letting all her anxiety roll off of her in pure relief that it was just Jay. She kept on walking, not stopping to greet, and he followed beside her on his skateboard with his hands clenched tightly beside his hips.

"You okey?" His face tensed at her concerned question and he looked away for a few seconds before turning back and staring at her sneeringly.

"You say you've lived here all of your life but I've never seen you around, what's up with that?" Sheryl shrugged and made a small face but made no other response to his sneering face.

"Guess you've never looked hard enough, besides; I have obligations" she murmured and hugged her arms to quell the chilly air. She glanced at him when she heard him give off a loud sardonic laugh.

"Yeah well so do I." Sheryl gave a nonplussed shrug. She knew his mother but she's never seen him looking for a job or doing anything constructive with his time beside skating and surfing.

"I'm sure you do. But unlike you I _have to_ work." She can see Jay stare at her, scowling, and she admits that it came out a lot more haughty and insulting then she meant, but still. She didn't have time to skate around whining, she had to work, while he seemed to be able to take all the time in the world. His speed slowed down, from lack of pushing up and she turned around to look at him when he'd stopped completely. They looked each other in the eye for a few seconds and Jay's posture seemed more relaxed and open as he spoke:

"You're probably a good friend-" Sheryl smiled softly but froze when his posture tensed and straightened and he resumed his sneer "-but then you're always panting after Stacey." She gave him a cold stare and shook her head with a scoff.

"God, why am I not surprised. You are such an asshole." She turned away and continued her way home, with somewhat hurried steps then before, and felt oddly more disappointed then she'd ever thought she would when Jay was involved.

****

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Sheryl smiled at her guests as she sat down their plates before turning back to Stacey with her question to his slumped form over the counter.

"I thought you were going to surf with your lady friend today again?" She wiggled her eyebrows, not that he saw it with his face buried inside his arms, and looked at him as he sat up and leaned his chin on his palm.

"There were no waves, well some small but no good ones, and wasn't all up for it after Jay came by and told me that Skip's started a skateboard team." Sheryl bit her lip, she had hoped that he was just going to be informed later of his spot but the sad eyes in front of her told her now that he wasn't getting on the team.

"So." Stacey glanced up at her; her cheek smashed against her fisted hand amusingly, and focused on her encouraging eyes.

"Kathy told me there's a contest in Del-Mar in a month." Sheryl slowly smiled and let it progress until there was a full-blown grin that made Stacey laugh at the Cheshire cat resemblance.

"Then may I be so bold to suggest that you get going on your practicing Mr. Peralta." Stacey sighed wearily and somewhat self-consciously, and separated the hair in front of his face to behind his ears.

"But you heard Skip, I'm not good enough-"

"Then become better. Are you honestly telling me that you're gonna let a dude that's named 'Skip' tell you of your abilities? It's a ridiculous name, does that not tell you all you need to know?" Stacey chuckled at her incredulous look and gave her a decisive nod as he stood up, and received a excited grin in return.

"You're a good friend." Sheryl's face made a small tick, the words he'd used was far too déjà vu for her, but smiled softly at the boy in front of her. He looked just like a small excited five year old who were being polite in waiting for a response before rushing out and doing god knows what.

"So are you, a really good friend." She nodded to the door with a sigh and rolled her eyes at his jumpy enthusiasm.

"You'll come with to the competition right?" He was already on his way out the door when she laughed and nodded at his disregard if she'd said no.

"I'm glad you were the first I came to, and don't tell anybody about this." Sheryl smiled affectionately and made a zipping motion to her lips.

"Have fun!" She chuckled to herself and sighed when she spotted a table that wanted their check.

****  
Two hours later she said goodbye to the two who had the last shift and smiled when she turned as she recognized Michaels voice down the street. She bit her lip in indecision before walking towards him, a voice (remarkably too much alike Jay) reverberated in her head; _'I've never seen you around.'_

"Hi." She took her hands out of her sweather-pockets and swung her hair out of her face and into a new bun on top of her head. Michael looked up and smiled friendly, giving her a quick hug, surprising her. She laughed quietly and looked at the others in the group, finding Tony a small distance away smirking at her nastily. She scowled right back and caught the attention of Stacey's lady friend, Kathy.

"Hey, you don't like Tony?" The girl next to Kathy asked Sheryl and Sheryl cleared her throat.

"No, I really don't." Tony's pleased grin fell as Kathy and the other girl laughed and placed a hand in hers.

"He's my brother so the feeling is mutual, and this is Blanca." Sheryl grinned in humour and by the look of the girl's hawk-eye on Tony, Blanca had to be Tony's somewhat girlfriend.

"Well, this is my Sheryl" Michael cheekily claimed and placed an arm around her waist. She snorted and looked down at him with raised eyebrows but he was unfazed.

"I thought she was Stacey's" Jay jumped up and gave Kathy a shove, one that Kathy teasingly replicated.

"Sorry, but that would be Kathy." Sheryl smiled as the girl blushed and the crowd leered at her, but Sheryl gave Jay a long stare as he looked back at her. Michaels arm seemed to tense around her waist before he slowly retracted it, his gaze locked on Tony's who was openly sneering, but also flickering to Jay who looked coldly composed.

"So do you skate Sheryl?" Sheryl shook her head violently, much to the group's amusement.

"Hell no! I'd probably spend most of the time on my ass so I've forfeited on that one" she added sheepishly and smiled down at Michael who patted her on the arm.

"I'll gladly have your ass in my lap instead" Tony leered and Sheryl widened her eyes shocked at him before narrowing her eyes.

"Tony!" The girl named Blanca started yelling in Spanish after exclaiming his name and Sheryl mused to herself that he was receiving the punishment he deserved.

"I gotta go anyways-" she glanced up at Jay who'd zeroed in on Kathy again and interjected "-say hi to Philaine for me?" He gave her an unreadable stare for a few seconds before he nodded, and she couldn't help herself when she'd spotted Tony calming Blanca down.

"Bye Ass-wipe!" She laughed unrestrained as he turned to the name and she patted Michael's shoulder before she went on home.

* * *

Hi all! So, what do we think?

Reviews are greatly appreciated so I can make the best of this story :)

//Tilly Tah Tah


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: This will be the contest from Sheryl's point of view but since I clearly had a lack of imagination when I wrote this, a lot (if not everything) goes along to the movies happenings. Excluding a few small inserts and it's a long one this one. Several parts and different occasions. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Three – Doing the Jig.

She bit her lip nervously, and somewhat annoyed, as she stood in front of her father in the kitchen. She was off to the tournament with Stacey and Kathy, or supposed to, but she had forgotten to mention it in advance to her father. She was standing in a simple light blue tank top and jeans with a tiny shoulder bag and had yet slung up her hair into her usual bun.

"Come on dad, I'll be back tonight." When he didn't answer she frowned and stomped her foot in childish frustration.

"I am eighteen you know." Her father lifted a sardonic eyebrow and quirked his lips, but merely nodded in the end with a sigh and hugged her back as she moved forward.

"Now who's driving, Stacey Perta or what was it?"

"Peralta dad, he's very responsible."

"How old is he?" was the gruff response to her proclamation and narrowed his eyes at his daughter who exhaled.

"He's twenty-one." She shook her head and yelled a goodbye before she was out the door at the sound of Stacey's honk outside.

"I want you on this stair at midnight the latest!" Sheryl gave an affirmative wave and smiled in greeting to Stacey and Kathy, who sat in the front seat.

"Shit, was that your dad?" Kathy awed and Sheryl laughed amused at Stacey's face.

"Yeah, he gives off that impression." Kathy looked back at Sheryl pityingly.

"I thought my dad was scary, poor guy that ever comes near you." Sheryl chuckled and shook her noncommittally.

"That won't happen, but it reminds me; you should be more polite then honk your car horn next time you pick up a girl." Stacey flushed and mumbled an apology with soft nodding motions. Soon somebody pressed on the radio to play and Sheryl leaned back in the back seat as the two lovebirds sat chatting in the front.

****  
She chuckled where she stood, Stacey was already sweating from nerves and the first guy had just barely started to skate across the small 'stage'. She tried to stay interested in the guy's skating but she just didn't find it as captivating as everybody else seemed to do. Girls were giggling and pointing at the surrounding boy's and girls, and touching up their make-up's hurriedly when they spotted a group of rowdy boys skate up to the side of the stage.

"Hey, Stacey. Team Zephyre is here." She heard him mumble something in response but she couldn't hear over the loud music and the chattering crowd as she looked at Jay who seemed engrossed staring at the ongoing skater's feet.

"Just relax Stace." Sheryl smiled at Kathy's cooing voice to calm Stacey, who looked to Sheryl queasily in question.

"I'm not falling for that, you've been practicing everyday for this the entire week, I should know since I've been covering for you at work, so if you're not ready then what are we doing here?" She stared him down with her hands on her hips, pleased when his posture eased with a mumble, and she unexpectedly jumped when she heard Jay's name being called through the speakers. She grinned amused and shook her head when she heard the background music.

"'I am iron-man'" she mimed the words as they flew over the crowd, eyes locked on his skating fascinated, and rolled her eyes annoyed at his loud response "you wanna blow me?" to a girl's compliment. Next up was Tony who quickly had both the crowd and the judges on his side during his skating, accidently catching Sheryl's eye as he finished and giving her a surprised, none the yet pleased, smirk before it turned into a scowl as he looked behind her.

"From Mar-Vista California we have skater Stacey Peralta!" Sheryl cheered loudly and smiled at the delightful faces he made during his skating. Everything seemed to escalate pretty quickly after that. One minute she was applauding Stacey getting the shared first place with Tony when an organizer wearing a red t-shirt comes up protesting when it comes to Stacey's place and Tony punching him in the face. She gasped and stumbled through the crowd who mostly were keeping a hold on Tony, stopping him from attacking the organizer again. Skip had taken Tony's spot, and was currently wrapping his belt around his knuckles and she managed to make a distinctive noise that caught his eyes, pleading with him to stop this and calm down.

"Tony Alva has been disqualified." Sheryl froze at the cold statement and watched Kathy run after her brother who was fuming a distance away. She glanced at Jay who caught her eye before looking away, and she looked to Stacey who seemed to feel more then guilty. She gave all the price-takers polite applause when they accepted their awards but tried to muster up a smile to Tony who was being comforted by a cooing Blanca. Sheryl took a deep breath, knowing she shouldn't do it.

'_You did good'_ she mimed and gave him a quick smile before she walked away and back to the parking-lot and to Stacey's car. She saw Jay sneak around after her and joined her in leaning against the car a few seconds later, raising her eyebrows at him surprised and glancing down at his trophy, which hung in his hand.

"Philaine's gonna be so proud." Jay tapped his foot repeatedly against the pavement in a gesture that were so typical him, and nodded.

"You wanna be my trophy?" Sheryl smiled at the nineteen year old whom in that moment looked to be a smug ten-year-old.

"I am no one's trophy." She smiled softly as he began jumping up and down on the spot, anxious from standing so still.

"Mom wants to know if you want to come over for dinner sometime." She could see that he'd 'been told' to pass on the invitation so she nervously looked around and fidgeted, drawing his gaze to her.

"Would it be okey with you?" He pouted his lips in thoughts, ignoring Sheryl as she blushed when she made an amused snort to how he looked, and nodded as he looked to where Kathy and Stacey were approaching the car.

"Tell her that I would love to then." The second after her last syllable was out he'd skated off and Sheryl smiled brightly at Stacey who couldn't stop touching the trophy he held tightly in his left hand.

"Congratulations!" She smiled brightly at them both but looked at Kathy questioningly when she just looked away with a blank face.

"Nice ride man!" Sheryl rolled her eyes at Skip's nasal voice as he showered Stacey with empty flattery, or it wasn't empty but it had ulterior motives, and walked around the car to lean her chin on her arms on the top of the car.

"How ya' doing doll-face?" Sheryl smiled in spite of herself at the charming words and raised her head slightly in a nod, Larry was right. They weren't harmless.

"I'm just fine Skipper." Sheryl smiled at the grimace on his face.

"It's Skip doll-face" he interjected, somewhat patronising.

"Not in my book" she sing-songed back and caught Stacey's amused face. She stood and stretched before she took a seat in the back seat and chuckled a few minutes later when Stacey started the car and jabbered on in an enthusiastic tone.

"Skip called me 'bro'."

"Skip called you 'bro'?" Kathy repeated shocked, humouring Stacey who failed to notice the girl's amused faces, and watched Stacey nod affirmative.

"He said; 'You look hungry 'bro'." Sheryl started laughing in the back, shaking her head and leaning her head back as Stacey and Kathy continued with their talking and repeating.

"I'll see you guys later. Good luck Stace." Sheryl punched his arm jokingly and smirked at his surprised face. She knew the second they'd left the parking lot and he'd started his talk about Skip, that he would be going down to get some food with the others.

"Hi dad." He was sitting right where she left him and she looked at the clock dramatically.

"Oh no! Five more hours until curfew, what a girl to do?" She smirked at his sigh and rolling eyes.

"You have fun?" Sheryl smiled in memory and shrugged.

"Yeah, Stacey got first place and Jay got in third."

"Who's Jay?" Ben's gruff voice asked and Sheryl snorted as she remembered Kathy's comment this morning.

"Jay Adams. He's a friend of Stacey's and he's Philaine's son." Sheryl had told Ben about Philaine the other night when they'd had dinner together, Ben alternating between frowning, rolling his eyes, snorting and raising his eyebrows to his hair-line as she spoke. Not that he had any hair on his head, not really.

"Didn't she skinny dip with Jim Morrison?" Sheryl looked at her dad speculatively and with a wrinkled nose.

"Yeah, I just really don't wanna know why that was the only thing you remembered from everything I told you-"

"Hey, it's not the only thing!" Ben's gruff voice interjected and gave her a look when she raised a speculative eyebrow. He rolled his eyes at her antics and stood up.

"I need at least a 24-hours heads-up next time. I want to know where you're going, with who, when you'll be back, for how long and how will you get back." He rambled everything up and Sheryl was left standing shocked at his paternal tone with the exit of a 'good night.'

****  
"Hello sir. My name is Tony Alva. We were wondering if Sheryl is home?" Sheryl stood leaning against the wall by her stairs a few days later as Tony and the shy soft looking brown haired boy stood at the door, introducing themselves to her father. Ben stood an impressive frame in the doorway with his bulky arms crossed over his chest, staring down at the two boys stonily.

"Hey, what's going on?" Sheryl looked at Tony suspiciously, who glanced at her, wisely keeping his mouth shut. She was standing in just a simple flowing skirt and tanktop, hair made up in a bun in the back of her neck and no make up, as usual when she just were to stay at home. Ben glanced between his daughter and the boys, gauging her expression before he muttered: "Ten o'clock."

"You wanna come skating with us?" Sheryl smiled at the fragile looking boy with brown hair, she'd med him several times before, who nodded to a car by the street where Stacey and Jay sat. She yelled goodbye to her father and smiled at the brown-haired boy after grabbing a sweather by the door.

"I don't think we've ever been introduced."

"Sid" he supplied and Sheryl nodded, somewhat amused with the disappointment of him having such a short name. She gave Stacey and Jay, mostly Stacey, a nod in greeting and took a seat beside Sid who sat in the back, now between her and Tony.

They seemed to be the second group there, or maybe the third, since there already were quite a crowd present, some skating around in a big empty pool and others just listening to music playing and hanging out.

"Sheryl!" Sheryl looked to see who were yelling her name and smiled at Michael who gave her a friendly hug when she approached before wiping off the sweat on his forehead.

"Hey, who lives here?" Sheryl looked around at the luxurious garden and pool-chairs around the spacious pool, Michael shrugged noncommittally and that was the end of that. She looked around herself after being left by Michael for the big pool and spotted Sid sitting alone on one of the pool-chairs, looking fixedly at the guys skating.

"Hi." She sat down beside him after making a questioning hand-gesture and sighed in agony when she saw Tony give her a lewd smirk-sneer.

"You don't seem impressed" Sid commented and Sheryl looked to see Tony strut about in front of a few girls who gazed at him adoringly. Or maybe not _adoringly_. She snorted and leaned forward to stage whisper: "He's not my type."

Sid nodded with a calm twist of the mouth.

"Too poor?" Sheryl looked at Sid surprised.

"More like: 'He's got a girlfriend'." Sid blushed, properly chastised,

"You skate?" Sid nodded to her question and looked back at the pool as someone finished his lap and Jay jumped into the pool, no shirt and his usual top hat. Sheryl gaped shocked at the almost ripples of muscles on his stomach and the shining of sweat. There were something odd about seeing him so.. Intimate. She cleared her throat uncomfortable with where her mind started to stray and saw Sid look at her teasingly.

"Sheryl and Jay, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-"

"Shut up!" Sheryl exclaimed embarrassed and laughing, shoving him unexpectedly so he almost lost his balance and both missing Jay's last lap around the pool.

"I don't skate as good as these guys-" he made a nod to the skaters surrounding the pool in eager excitement "-but I have fun." Sheryl nodded, pleased with his last comment on the subject.

"The best reason to do anything."

"RUN!" Sheryl looked around herself at the loud and echoing exclamation, confused as everybody started disappearing and hurrying about in blurry shapes. Somebody grabbed her arm, putting her in motion, and lead her off and shoved her up hurriedly on to a car together with Kathy and Blanca, who were yelling after Tony. He looked back at them from up the street, grinning after looking at them as if checking that they were all there, before jumping inside a car driven by a girl who clearly wasn't a friend of theirs, judging from Blanca's crying and cursing.

"Forget him, he's an asshole." Sheryl's sentiments were clearly not wanted as both Kathy and Blanca glared at her, but she failed to notice, as she looked around rather panicked.

"Where's Sid?"

The car stopped on the boardwalk a while later and with a wave of thanks to the driver, Sheryl hurried up to a table where she found the boy's sitting and eating.

"Hey, you okey? You just disappeared on me" Sheryl looked down at Sid earnestly and relieved to finally have found him. He stared up at her, eyes wide open in surprise, and so was Jay. Stacey didn't look so surprised and Sid had to swallow to get his bearings together.

"Yeah, I just ran the other way" he answered sheepishly and Sheryl finally caught that they were all surprised that she cared. She frowned to herself and rubbed her arm where somebody had grabbed her before.

"Yeah, I never got to thank whoever it was that helped me out." She saw Sid open his mouth to speak but it snapped shut with a painful grimace as a 'thud' sounded under the table. She looked at him speculatively when he remained silent and nodded slowly to herself.

"Anyway, I guess I'll get to thank him sooner or later."

"Not so innocent after all then baby?" Sheryl sneered down at Jay who smirked at her for a few seconds before he turned back to play with his frites. As she stood scowling at the back of his head, a car approached and she slapped the back of his head just in time for Skip and Tony to step out of the car.

"Doll-face" Skip greeted in his nasal voice and Sheryl smiled and nodded politely.

"Skipper." Her smile widened as he grimaced.

"Leaving so soon?" Sheryl turned her head to Tony who shoved a fry in his mouth before he looked back at her. Sneer firmly in place.

"My day off." She turned away from the boys with a last smile, mostly directed to Stacey and Sid, but jumped surprised and disgusted as Tony slapped her on the ass. She could feel how all the blood drained from her face, and stared at him shocked as disgust and ill at ease crashed over her.

"Come now sugar-" Tony must have caught her look cause he added spitefully "-you need the tip don't ya'?" She took a deep breath and were somewhat surprised herself when it came to the cold and emotionless tone of her voice.

"Fuck you." Tony just sneered in response, his eyes betrayed him however, and she hurried off, hearing Skip's voice yell before a car drove off and the boy's started to laugh uproariously. She was walking down the street, maybe a block or two left to her house, when she met a stumbling Philaine who only wore a short jean skirt and a bikini-top. Sheryl could see her lip quiver.

"Have you seen Jay-boy Sherry?" Sheryl smiled softly in response and changed the subject.

"He told me that you've invited me for dinner, what do you say about I make you something to eat and we'll hang out til' Jay shows up." Sheryl smiled encouragingly and Philaine's face slowly cleared of all traces of distress and sadness, brightening up.

"Awesome idea!"

Just under a half hour later, Sheryl was placing a blanket over Philaine's passed out form and making a move to retake her seat in one of the chairs to continue her sketching as she waited for Jay to come home, he stepped in through the door rather noisily. She made a hurried shushing noise and saluted the half drunk boy in goodbye, but jumped when he grabbed her arm and stared at her contemplatively.

"I would be a good friend." She'd meant to say it bitingly, taunt him with the fact that she would never be such a good friend to him, but it came out soft and comforting before she slowly walked home trying to figure out the look in his eyes.

****  
The restaurant had never been so empty before, usually there were at least a few stragglers who might want a drink or something, but today there wasn't a single customer in sight. She smiled brightly as she heard someone come in through the door, feeling restless.

"Are you really that bored?" Stacey chuckled as she sagged again and let out a small childish whine. She rested her cheek on her hand and leaned against the counter with an agonizing sigh.

"So what is the victor doing here?" Stacey blushed at the reminder, but proudly straightened up to show his torso and the new t-shirt he wore, to Sheryl's amused face.

"All went well then I presume?" Stacey nodded bashfully with a brilliant grin, and told her about his date with Kathy.

"My, my" she teased and smiled.  
"So where are you taking her?" Stacey shrugged and Sheryl raised her eyebrows surprised.

"Some place to eat." Sheryl laughed at his try to be casual and smirked when he looked up flushed red and with a defiant look.

"Have fun" she told him and smiled in answer as he smiled and shoved her jokingly.

"Maybe I should send Michael here to give you company?" Sheryl rolled her eyes and grinned superiorly.

"At least he'll have time for me." She gave him a stricken look and Stacey left the place laughing. Sheryl shook her head contemplatively to herself.

Stacey was a nice boy, just the type of boy most girls would want in a boyfriend, but Sheryl had seen the looks Jay and Kathy had shared. Jay was definitively more exciting then Stacey with all that distracting energy and self-confidence. She just hoped that things turned out well for Stacey in the end.

"Day-dreaming again?" Sheryl smiled at Sid who just seemed to get paler for everyday that passed, even in the strong sun.

"You okey?" She gave the question layers and recognized the stricken look in his face before he masterly phased it away.

"T.A is throwing a party tonight." Sheryl stared at the boy who desperately tried to divert her attention, probably an easier feat as he usually spent his time with Jay.

"Is he now?" she murmured and looked away as he nodded eagerly and pushed away a few strands of hair from his clammy forehead.

"His dad is away for the weekend, you should come by." He smiled at her and Sheryl couldn't decline to that angel-face.

"On one condition-" she murmured nervously and saw him sag and nod disappointed "-that I get to call you my friend?" She bit her lip nervously and refrained from yelling out in frustration as he took his time to answer. She glanced up and sagged in obvious relief to his huge grin. _A 'Cheshire Cat' grin indeed_. She pointed towards an ice-cream bowl and Sid nodded happily, muttering 'Strawberry', and smiled childishly when she nudged the bowl full of strawberry ice cream his way.

"So Sidney, what are you gonna do with your life?" She gave him a stern stare, reminiscent of her father, and chuckled when he made a shocked face.

"God, your dad scared the hell out of me when he opened the door." Sheryl laughed through her mouthful and Sid widened his eyes earnestly, presenting an even more amusing picture.

"He's bloody mountain Sheryl!" She laughed out loud and shrugged, not disagreeing with the statement.

"What about _your_ parents?" Sid smiled at her, surprised with the question, but considered how to answer.

"Dad's a work-aholic. Mom just walks around at home in fancy clothes and tell the helpers and maids what to do." Sheryl nodded.  
"Not such a good relationship to the two in other words?" Sid shook his head and Sheryl smiled sadly.

"My mom left when I was seven. Just walked out the door, got into the car and didn't even look back." She stared at the floor as she remembered and spoke in a monotone voice.

"Dad was furious when he came home. I was afraid to come out of my room for days, afraid he would blame me." She gave Sid a grimace of a smile when his clammy hand took hers in comfort and breathed out slowly.

"Where is she now?" Sheryl shrugged and looked back at him.  
"Don't know and don't care." Sid watched her as he scooped up the last of his ice cream from the bowl. Dogtown was known for housing bad parents; his didn't care as long as he kept the course of becoming a lawyer, Stacey's dad drank a lot and his mom had died, Tony and Kathy's mom had also died from a car accident and their dad was strict and demanding. Jay's mom was still stuck in the 60's, still chasing that glorious feeling of freedom and admiration.

"Want me to meet up with you tonight?" Sheryl smiled relieved and nodded, she had no idea of where Tony's house was. She bit her lip and flushed in embarrassment.

"Eh Sid? What should I wear?" Sid smiled at the girly question, and how abhorred Sheryl seemed to be for asking it, and shrugged.

"Whatever you want; you look pretty no matter what." They both blushed at that, Sheryl a nice pink, and thanked him for the compliment.

****  
She still had a wardrobe emergency when she came home and stood in front of her mirror an hour before she was to meet Sid. Her washed hair was braided down her back and she stood in only her underwear in front of the mirror, scowling at herself in judgement and muttering self-pityingly: "Not like anybody's gonna notice me anyway." There was a swift knock on her door before it opened and Sheryl jumped under her towel panicked.

"Dad! I have to say 'OK' first!" She was blushing and glaring daggers at her father who frowned and rolled his eyes in a way that said _'women'_.

"I'll try to remember." When he didn't say anymore she gave him a look.

"Yes? Did you want something?"

"Just wondering how thing's are going." Sheryl lifted a dubious eyebrow but complained in a childish whine.

"I don't know what to wear." Ben nodded and muttered a soft 'ah' and closed the door after him as he exited. Sheryl scowled before scoffing annoyed. She had been glancing at one of the few dresses she owned, but she wondered if it might be a bit too formal. With a aggravated sigh she climbed into a flowing brown skirt that reached her knees and put on a blue t-shirt whose arms and neck had been cut off. She put on a simple pair of ballet shoes and hurried down the stairs as she let her hair out. She'd touched up her make-up a little by adding some more blush and a few strokes with the mascara brush, and turned to Ben as he came out to the hallway where she reached for her sweather.

"I want you to be home by twelve." Sheryl looked at him.

"Come on dad, it's already nine soon." He stared at her gruffly and shifted.

"One then, but if you're not here by then I'm coming out after you." Sheryl smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you daddy." He grabbed the sweather she held in her hand and shook his head in a move to tell her it was unnecessary. With a sigh she caved and took a few steps out of the door.

"You look very nice sweetheart, have fun." She jumped downtown to meet Sid and gave him a hug in greeting, fingering the Led Zeppelin shirt he wore.

"Very cool" she commented and smiled as Sid blew himself up proudly. He looked around her frowning and Sheryl twisted to accommodate him worriedly.

"Where's your sweather?" She let out a huff at his laugh and gave him a hard shove, fighting the urge to grin at him. They walked next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, and as they approached Tony' house Sheryl raised her eyebrows at the loud music and great activity.

"His dad is going to kill him" Sid affirmed and laughed, giving her a nudge to get them to walk again. She shook her head at the already huge mess and saw Michael a distance up, chatting up a girl who was giggling and touching his arm every once in a while. Sheryl grinned and nodded as Sid pointed to the keg. She looked back at Michael and laughingly approached his open arms and drunken grin.

"Sher-bear!" Sheryl cocked an eyebrow at the nickname but he failed to notice and lifted her into a bear hug. She smiled at the other guys around and held her hand out to the blonde girl who was glaring at her petulantly.

"Is this your girlfriend Michael?" The girl blushed and giggled as Michael's attention settled on the girl again and led her away by an arm around her shoulders. Sheryl chuckled and made a gracious nod as a black-haired guy complimented her on a 'good job'.

She was, surprisingly, having a good time. She'd greeted Sid in the kitchen half an hour ago and he had then been in a very delighted buzz, his "This is my friend! Sheryl!" had easily alerted her of that. She saw the guy in front of her lick his lip nervously and grab her hand with a nod to the dance-floor and a nervous glint in his eyes. Sheryl nodded with a smile, a gush of nervous air leaving her lungs, and laughed embarrassed as he righted her hands when a slow song came on. He gave her a calming smile, relaxing them both with the knowledge of the other being just as nervous, and placed her arms around his neck and sat his own hands on her hips. After a few tense moments where Sheryl desperately tried to notice anything else then the scorching heat from his hands onto her hips, they slowly began to chat.

He told her that he was a member of a skating team named 'G&G Skating' and she smiled amused over his enthusiastic tale of how he got discovered and all that he's been doing since. In the middle of a shared smile over something so trivial she can't even remember why, only how her cheeks refused to let her stop smile, something disturbed her arms and suddenly he was gone and Tony stood instead with a disgusting leer on his face. By the smell of him she easily detected that he was stoned and felt him grab her hand and drag her close with an arm around her waist.

"Hey" her former partner interjected, giving her face a long look when she smiled at him apologetic.

"I know him Tom, I'm sorry. I'll see you around?" Tom gave her a searching look just in case, making her smile at him softly for the sweet gesture, before nodding him away.

"Yeah, she'll see you later" Tony chuckled spitefully and tightened his hold on her waist, making her gasp at how close they really were, she could feel his breath on her face for crying out loud! She glanced around her with a clearing of her throat and caught Jay behind Tony's back giving her a murderous look, making her tense and look down, almost _hurt_.

"What's so wrong with being this close to me?" Tony murmured and Sheryl sighed, she heard the strange quality to his voice alerting her of the fact that he hadn't sobered up yet.

"It's nothing wrong Tony" she answered and looked away from where she knew Jay stood. She felt Tony's head lower and angle so his breath fell on her ear and slid his right hand down under her neckline.

"Just think about how it'll feel later when I'm lying on top of you naked." She scowled at his words and the sleazy tone and detangled herself from him as quickly as possible.

"Thanks for the offer-" she sneered "-but I think I'll pass." She looked at the clock and smiled at Sid as she passed the kitchen, who sat on the kitchen sink with a huge smile.

"I'm gonna go home Sid, my curfew is in fifteen minutes." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and rubbed her arms to fight off the chill as she stepped out of the warm house. She found Jay and Tony leaning against two pillars beside the stairs down to the lawn, looking down at Kathy and Stacey who seemed to just have arrived and looked to be arguing. Tony and Jay's heads turned to share a look quickly as Stacey walked to his car, leaving Kathy in the grass staring after him. Tony stood and stared at Sheryl as he passed her, dragging his fingers along her arm, and Sheryl looked back from Tony to see Jay give her a long look before jumping down and approach Kathy who now had laid down on her back. Sheryl walked up to the closest pillar, the one Jay had rested against, and looked down with a frown as Jay started to jump and dance around Kathy until she laughed and jumped to her feet, following him with smirks on their faces. Sheryl gave a deep sigh and drew a hand through her hair, shaking her head as she walked home. _Stacey's gonna be heartbroken._

"Are you drunk?" Her father was awake and up waiting for her. She sighed and pulled her hair into a hazard bun on top of her head.

"No. All I drank was water." He gave her a long look to see if she was telling the truth before continuing to the next question.

"You smoked?"

"Nothing. Passively maybe" she muttered when she remembered that awful stench Tony had worn as they danced so close, and started up the stairs.

"You have fun?" Sheryl turned to smile at her dad.

"Yeah, most of the time. Some drama, but I made friends." Ben nodded and gave her hand a squeeze before entering the living room, listening to Sheryl's steps up the stairs. She fell head first on her bed when it came in sight and gave off a loud and annoyed groan to the pillow before rolling onto her back and grabbing a blanket. She opened her window and carefully climbed out to lie down on her tiny balcony, wrapping her blanket around herself and falling asleep by counting the stars.

****  
She didn't see either Sid or Stacey (or Michael for that matter) for a few days after Tony's party. Things went back to how they used to be for Sheryl; work and then home. She started spending more time with a girl named Peggy, they'd met briefly a few times and the girl's first words to Sheryl had been: "You gotta let go of all of their drama, things doesn't work otherwise."

She had invited Sheryl to ride her with her and the other girls to the next skating contest, 'Ocean Front Festival'. Kathy and Sheryl hadn't looked at each other for the whole ride; Sheryl had felt the tension from Kathy just by showing up, but as Kathy had to hold up the front seat so Sheryl could climb out of the car, Sheryl caught her eye sternly.

"You can't play both Kathy, it's not fair to either of them." Kathy looked away as if she'd been the sound from a buzzing bee and linked arms with Blanca as they walked off to find Tony and the others. Sheryl glanced at Peggy who raised her eyebrows before skating off to the skating area. Sheryl grumbled to herself in her lonesome state: "I'm dropping it" and smirked at Skip who was writing 'Zephyr' on a simple brown bag of skateboards.

"Cheating kid's on their allowances then Skipper?" Skip looked up at her annoyed and Sheryl raised her hands in a 'peace' gesture.

"You're really strange Skipper, with you nasal voice, and kind of an asshole to Sid-" she stopped him from interrupting "-but you've done something really good with this team." Skip looked at her.

"Well I'm happy to have your approval doll-face, but I have work to do." She smirked as Skip tried to catch the surrounding kids' attention and she crouched down next to a unsure looking boy.

"You like skateboarding?" The boy nodded.

"Have you heard of 'Zephyr' skating team kid?" Skip interjected in his nasal voice and Sheryl glanced at him before smiling at the boy again.

"Why don't you go and get your mom and come back so you can buy a real 'Zephyr' skateboard?" The boy eagerly scurried away to find his mother and soon there was a long line of people in front of Skip.

"I believe my work here is done." She smiled at Skip, who spared her a glance before he got distracted by the approaching money, and flounced off to the sound of Skip's price arguing.

"Sheryl!" She turned swiftly to the urgent call and spotted Kathy close up on Jay further along up the street.  
"Michael!" She laughed at his huge smile and shrieked when he lifted her and twirled her around.

"I got recruited!" She screamed girlishly in happiness and gave him a hug again.

"That is so awesome!" Michael nodded, more then pleased.

"So you and Tom will practically go on tour together?" Sheryl smiled as Michael told her all of the plans his team had for him and how he got recruited. She laughed as he nodded to somebody to the left of them and took hurrying steps before remembering himself and turning back with apologizing eyes, grasping her shoulders.

"Sorry, I gotta go, don't be a stranger okey?" He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and she laughed as he jogged up to his team's tent. She smiled to herself and looked around, catching the sight of Tony standing next to a guy dressed in a screaming yellow and by instinct she looked back to catch Jay's eyes who shrugged off Kathy off of him and walked closer to Tony to listen.

"Sheryl, come on!" Sheryl gave Jay's sneaking form a last glance before running up to Peggy who looked at her stupidly and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I like your top." Sheryl smirked amused at Peggy who already seemed to be wishing that she could take back the girly statement. Sheryl glanced down at her long blouse, which was a pale pink shade with tiny dark red flowers. She'd left her jeans in the car cause of the heat so she just had one of her dad's long tank tops on underneath. She smiled and raised her chin at Peggy.

"I like it too." They laughed when they approached the others, Shogo and Red dog, members of team 'Zephyr', was doing a jig in celebration of today's skating success, and grabbed both Peggy and Sheryl to join. She heard a low whistle mid-move and mid-laugh, and glanced up to see Tony's face angled sideways with his eyes locked on her legs and thighs. She looked down stricken and furiously tugged down her tank top and blouse to over her knees, feeling utterly exposed.

"Looking fine baby-girl." Sheryl scowled blushingly, feeling somewhat relieved that it wasn't a degrading comment he'd made, and flushed even brighter when she noticed that most of the crowd still had their gazes locked on her legs and thighs.

"Now leave doll-face alone. Should have enjoyed the view in silence" Skip drawled and Sheryl's somewhat relieved smile disappeared into a gaping scowl aimed to Skip as he grinned at her saucily.

"Yeah yeah, home to Dogtown 'Zephyr's!" They all cheered and laughed, and Sheryl was standing still after getting an appreciative smirk from Jay.

* * *

Finally I've updated! Don't believe there's a lot of people following this, but I decided when I started this, that THIS was the one story I HAD to complete. I have already written several chapters, and are on my eight right now but I don't want to upload all and then just get stuck. Hopefully someone follows this and if you just stumble onto this; reviews are always nice.

Thanks! / Tilly


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Sorry guys for the wait! I really have been on cloud seven every time I've received a suscribe-mail. Totally Awesome!

In this chapter I'm introducing a new crowd and mentioning two more. Obviously I've caught the bug of needing to interject a few bad-boy's but I do have a save and that is the gang that Jay and Sid later on skulks around with. The magazine is also called "Skate Board" but I added a "Magazine" so that I wouldn't have to explain it later.

Just a tiny side note that has nothing to do with the story; I've always wanted to say what Sheryl says to her guest, to a customer at the coffee place I work at and the accident that caused Sheryl's frustration actually happened to me. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter four – "I hate Wednesday's".**

Sadly, work was still waiting for her when she got back home from all festivities and contests. On the up side, she had a lot more people who came in to the food court, that recognized her and greeted her with more then just their order. Sid was a regular, so was Peggy when she wasn't off training, something that the girl took seriously because of the fact that she were the only girl on team 'Zephyr'. Sid was always happy to come by and get treated to some ice cream by Sheryl (and Stacey when they shared shifts) but she could tell that he was sad over the fact that nobody really cared if he was out training or not. She'd caught him off-guard once and asked him why he wasn't off training like the rest and she'd felt a enormous tug at her heartstring at his melancholy answer: "It doesn't matter if I get better or not, I'm more of a cute mascot."

He'd looked down at the floor angrily and Sheryl smiled softly.

"If it makes you feel any better; you make a really cute mascot." Sid had snorted at her try to encourage him, but had blushed nonetheless when he'd looked up to catch her wide grin. Sheryl straightened and smiled at the old couple, Mrs Maggie and John, who were regular costumers every weekend, as they left and thanked them for their visit and their tip, distractedly hearing the costumer bell on the front counter ring.

"I'll be right with you!" She stapled the plates and cups on her arms and shoved them into the kitchen and to Neil, who scowled, and pulled out a notepad from her front pocket apologetically.

"Hi, sorry to have kept you waiting. What can I get you?" She smiled a polite smile, the standard one, at a tall Latino guy who stood in front of her. He was very big, almost as big as her father, and had a shaved head and a tiny moustache, almost not deserving to be called a moustache. He was wearing a black t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to show off a tattoo in the form of three rings intertwining (reminding her of the Olympic rings) and the letters **'S.F.M'** written underneath. Behind him stood four more guys who had either also shaved head or at least their hair trimmed short, and were dressed similarly with dark shirts and tank tops and dark baggy jeans. All wore the tattoo but only different initials under the three intertwined rings. Sheryl looked back to the guy in front again when he failed to answer her question, and found his brown eyes trail her form up and down appreciatively.

"Hello?" She smiled again, the polite smile growing a frostier bite, and tried to ignore all the five guys smirks, as she pointed to the menu over her head. The guy in the front glanced back at the guys behind him, whom all seemed to chuckle, before looking down at her with a small smirk.

"Five burgers and frites to go. Three cokes, one orange-juice and two beers." Sheryl wrote it all down in a rush and spoke in a reflex, forgetting that she was working.

"It's not even one in the afternoon yet." She looked up when they all froze, and stared at her stonily. She raised her eyebrows and hands in a 'peace' gesture and backed to hand the chef the piece of paper with the order and mumbled: "I'm just saying."

"What exactly are you saying?" The guys had their arms crossed over their chests and was portraying a rather scary picture. She cleared her throat and crossed her own arms over her chest defensively.

"I am saying that the time isn't one o' clock yet so it's pretty early for a beer, or any alcohol. As long as you're not driving-" she muttered and stood to count in their order on the cash register.

"It's not one yet guys." Sheryl sighed loudly at the obnoxious voice, this was the first time she had disagreed openly with a customer. With a few days space there would always come in somebody that figured that since you were working as a server, you ultimately were a servant and therefore a lower being. Once, she had been close to firing off a few chosen words to a group of people who had, by accident, broken a glass of milkshake and trudged up to her with a sour look telling her that she 'might need a mop to clean up that mess'. They had stood around her, acting as if she weren't there but also making faces that spoke of their frustration to how long it all took, and then when she'd managed to swab everything up and also sweep up all the shards from the floor, the girl who had, _accidently of course_, broken the glass turned to Sheryl imperiously: "I need a new milkshake." Sheryl scowled to herself at the memory and shoved on the 'total' button a little harder then necessary and asked for the money from the guy in front of her, who was looking at her with a amused glint in his eyes. She gave him his change back and in that moment she recognized him. Something about him had been bugging her from the moment she'd first looked at him, and now she recognized him as the cocky customer who'd ordered two cokes, and who she'd spotted later in the evening when walking home. '_The weirdo'._

Something in her eyes must have told him that she recognized him, but probably not in the way he'd thought, judging by his chuckle.

"You don't know who we are right?" She rolled her eyes at the stupid line that only belonged in B-movies about mafias and reached for a bag to put their order and condiments in.

"Ooh, I'm shaking in my shoes. I suppose you're this law-breaking, all-known gang who _everybody_ fear." She snorted to herself; the idea belonged in movies and big-cities. Not here in Dogtown, it was _laughable._

"Funny girl" he commented and shook his head at her with an unreadable look in his eyes, ignoring the guys behind him who looked between Sheryl and him intensely. He grabbed the bag she held out and handed it to someone behind him, not looking and kept his eyes locked on hers. Smirk widening as she looked back at him unflinchingly even though she felt something telling her to look away.

"You're new around here right?" Sheryl sighed.

"Why does everybody keep saying that? I've lived in this town for eleven years, I just have a lot more on my plate then fashion and skateboards!" She glared when Neil snorted as he came out from the kitchen but stopped when he spotted whom she'd thrown her tantrum in front of.

"Ask him who we are, and we'll see how you act the next time we meet spitfire." He chuckled and winked at her before exiting with the others. Sheryl rolled her eyes in response and chuckled when she turned around to find Neil's slack jawed expression. She had time to help several customers by their tables and hand out checks before Neil found it in himself to breath out amazed: "Do you have any idea of who that was?"

Sheryl shook her head and placed the dishes she'd picked up, inside the kitchen, and returned to Neil with a dubious expression.

"That was the inner circle of 'The Counts' Sheryl. That is basic knowledge!" Sheryl sighed, still not fully grasping the concept.

"In case you haven't noticed; I'm not much of a social-bee so when was I supposed to have stumbled upon this little tid-bit?" She smiled at a passing family who thanked Sheryl for their stay.

"Sheryl, usually 'local gangs' is kind of a attention-grabber." Sheryl ignored the condescending tone he used and nodded to him before she went to collect the family's pay and counted it into the cash register.

"It most certainly is Neil, but I've never caught it Neil. But we must thank the lucky stars for me having you to tell me all about it now." She gave him a teasing grin, which wavered at his seriousness. Since day one, Neil had always been the one to lighten up the mood, not drag it down.

"'The Counts' is one of three gangs here in Dogtown and one of the two rivals. 'The Hounds' and 'The Crows' is the other two and 'The Crows' are the most peaceful in the manner that they keep to themselves."

"'The Hounds', how patriotic" Sheryl joked but shut up at his stern look.

"'The Counts'' leader is named Stephen Maves, the one you were so 'friendly' to-" Sheryl rolled her eyes at his sarcasm but felt a creeping feeling in her stomach that promised no good "-and is the one who overlooks their whole 'business'." Neil made bunny-ears to the word 'business' and Sheryl swallowed.

"Their tattoo is placed on their left upper arm and has the shape of three rings intertwining, chained together, and they all have their own personal initials underneath." Sheryl leaned back against the counter behind her and rubbed her forehead, she could feel a headache coming on.

"So what does this 'business' entail then?" Neil shrugged.

"Robbery, assault, murder, drugs; you know, the usual." Sheryl gave him a blank stare and nodded sarcastically.

"Yeah, the usual."

"They don't stand for violence against women and children, their own or others." Sheryl shook her head to herself and walked off to clean another table before she addressed Neil again.

"Guess that's some relief huh?" Sheryl mumbled with a tiny amused smile. This was so.. _Weird_. She snorted at that, hadn't her first thought of him, _Stephen Maves_, been that he was weird? She gave Neil a long stare and frowned at him as she leaned back against the counter.

"How come you know so much?" Neil looked back at her for a long moment before he shrugged and returned to the kitchen. Sheryl's frown deepened but as she leaned it against her forearms, and whined to herself she came to a conclusion.

_She hated Wednesday's._

******  
**She was definitively paranoid the following days as she was on her way to and back from work. The sight of this 'Stephen' rushing up to her with a knife drawn, threatening her to never talk back to him again, hadn't left her since she dreamt it two night's ago. She hadn't gotten the whole 'gang-leader' impression of him when she'd first seen him, cocky and disgustingly sure of himself-yes, but now when she had the answers the four guys behind him should have been a tip-off. She'd told Sid who'd given her the longest stare and silence she never thought he would be capable of, and just breathed out a soft: "What?" Sheryl found herself being a bit annoyed over the fact that she'd been left out of the loop, and shouldn't there had been something on the news if they were so dangerous? _'They're that good'_ a treacherous voice intoned inside her head and sounded suspiciously much like Neil. When a week had passed and she'd had time to digest all the information and all of her concocted scenario's, she decided that it was just that; make-believe. She was leaning against the counter with her back to the restaurant and watched as Neil and Stacey duelled each other with dish-wash brushers in the empty establishment.

"How dare thee steal me rum, ye' scallywag!" Sheryl laughed at Neil's pirate impression and Stacey cracked a smile before returning into character.

"What about ye', stealing me teddy-bear?" Sheryl burst out in laughter at Neil's shocking and indignant face and saw him swing the brush to whack Stacey on the head.

"Oi!" Stacey gaped ant Neil's nerve and swung right back. The plastic handles clanked as they crashed and the brushes ritched as the fought, and Sheryl laughed at the two childish boys.

"My shift is up now so I'll see you guys on Tuesday-" she winced when Stacey received a well-aimed hit on the side of his neck from Neil "-hopefully the both of you" she muttered. The boy's mumbled something she took as affirmative between vengeful whacks and exclamations so Sheryl snorted and left without another word. The weather was starting to improve again after the last week and a half's gloominess, but Sheryl was starting to feel colder as of late, so she was hugging herself on her way home, singing under her breath.

"_I said baby, you know I'm gonna leave you. I'm leaving you in summertime."_ She was so caught up in her singing and the thoughts and memories that followed that she failed to hide to the side of the road as a car came riding by.

"Well well, if it isnt' Spit-fire?" Sheryl jumped at the deep voice and snapped her eyes to see the same brown eyes from two weeks ago. She frowned but the longer she kept eyesight with him the more relaxed she seemed to feel.

"I told you you'd act differently." He chuckled and looked ahead of him down the street and adjusted the car by the wheel as he rode along with Sheryl's steps.

"I am not acting differently 'Stephen'-" she stressed his name and missed the tensing of his jaw "-I am merely tired from working a eight hour shift."

"If you weren't a little girl I'd beat you blue and yellow right now for addressing me so informally." Sheryl's breath caught at his cold assessment and detached tone and stared at him steadily.

"Why? It's a nice name." The men in the car chuckled and so did Stephen when he saw her naïve bewilderment.

"Besides, I am no little girl." Stephen raised his eyebrows and gave her body an appraising look as he'd done in the restaurant.

"Yeah you might be right. Not so little." The street was about to come to a cross so Stephen looked to his friends, she could her their muffled voices as they spoke, and chuckled at her when he turned back.

"You're alright girlie. What's your name?" Sheryl frowned and tightened her arms around her as the street ended.  
"Sheryl" she answered suspiciously and received more amused chuckles and looks.

"Well then Sheryl, I'll see you around." He stepped on the gas and the tires made a screeching noise as they spun and left tracks in the pavement.

"Neil is never going to believe this." She didn't tell her dad when she came home and he wondered what had taken her so long. She just said that she'd been lost in thoughts, not a complete lie, and then walked up to her room. She wasn't even sure herself of what just had happened.

******  
**"You still alive then?" Sheryl scowled at Neil's grin. She hadn't told Neil about Stephen confronting her that night, but she had told him before of her dream, but since Stephen hadn't showed up at the restaurant again, Neil had started to tease her about it. Calling _her_ a scaredy-cat.

As she'd stepped in to the restaurant the following Tuesday Neil had teased her and Sheryl had just stopped and stared at him.

"You really want to play it out like that?" Neil had given her a tiny embarrassed smile but cheekily answered: "Yes please" so Sheryl had let it continue.

"You're being stupid Neil, we've talked about this." Sheryl smiled at Stacey who smiled back. She tied her apron around her waist and walked up to nudge Stacey's shoulder with her forehead in greeting. He looked down and greeted the shorter girl with a soft smile.

"How are you?" She raised her hand to his forehead but didn't feel anything suspicious, but winced when he slapped her hand away and looked up at him affronted.

"That's hardly the kind of behaviour you want to show the brother of the girl you're with." Tony stood smirking at Stacey who looked down at Sheryl uncomfortably and Sheryl scowled at Tony's remark.

"Would you-"  
"We're just friends Tony. You know that." Sheryl gaped at Stacey and frowned.

"Why are you defending yourself to _him?_" Tony raised his eyebrows and asked with a malicious smirk.

"Were you talking about Kathy or-"

"Of course he meant me! Are you stupid?" Sheryl glared at Tony who stared right back at her, the friendly glint in his eyes forever gone as he spoke to Stacey. Something nobody but her seemed to be aware of.  
"Come on guys" Stacey entreated, and with a last scowl Sheryl turned and went in to the kitchen where it was her turn to do her duty. A couple of minutes later as she stood scrubbing furiously at a very stubborn plate, with Neil beside her joking and telling her of the time he'd caught Larry with his wife on the counter, Stacey cleared his throat softly as he leaned against the door-jam. Sheryl laughed at Neil and leaned her head on his shoulder before she turned to Stacey.

"Sid is asking for you." Sheryl frowned and glanced at Stacey before she continued with her plate regretfully.

"Could you tell him that-"

"She'll be out in a moment." Sheryl frowned and looked up at Neil who smiled at her as soon as Stacey left.

"I am giving you fifteen minutes of freedom. You go ahead." Sheryl chuckled at his mock-scared face and gave him a peck on the cheek and a smile before jumping out to greet Sid. Sid stood next to Jay, who smirked at her in greeting before turning his back to her and Sid gave her a small smile in turn.

"We've come to invite you for dinner tonight." Sheryl smiled at Sid's up blown frame and leaned her hip against the counter. She pointed to an empty table where they could sit, and grabbed a pad and a pencil which she passed to Jay who furiously began to write, scratch and draw. She looked back to find Sid smirking.

"So, dinner?" Sid nodded and made a nod towards Jay.

"Philaine invited us over for dinner tonight." Sheryl bit her lip as she glanced down to see that Jay had abandoned the pad, turning it over and making him start up again, and looked back at Sid. Sid followed her almost automatic gestures interested over the lack of hesitance she portrayed, but only smiled when she looked at him again.

"I just gotta talk to dad first. He told me to give him a 24 hour's notice after last time." Sid shrugged; he wouldn't want her dad on his case either. She took a few more seconds of thought before nodding with a smile.

"I'll be over around eight. That okey?" Had it been anybody else she'd found it strange to decide things with somebody else then the person she was supposed to go home to, but this was the way things were done with Jay and Sid.

"Who's making dinner?" Sheryl smiled at the two boys, Jay waking up from his furious drawing, to share a glance with Sid, and looked away.  
"I take it you've been ordered. Just make something easy, soup and sandwiches. Easy, cheap and tasty," She glanced up to see Neil in the kitchen door with a waving dish-brush.

"Sorry guys but I gotta go back to work." She leaned over the table and hugged Sid and tore out the pages Jay had drawn on from the pad.

"See you tonight." She ruffled his hair, shocked over how soft it was, and jumped up to Neil to laugh at his impersonation of a 'house-mom'; waggling his fingers and her with one hip jutted out.

"Young lady-" he started in a high-pitched voice and the door swung closed to the sound of Sheryl's laughter.

******  
**She looked up at Stacey when he came in with dishes and bit her lip when he refused to look her in the eye. They hadn't talked much lately, as they used to, and Sheryl was aware that it was also her own fault for distancing herself but she felt hurt. Shouldn't he have fought against it? She was more then aware of the childish reasoning behind it all but she couldn't help herself, so she cleared her throat and gave Stacey a small smile.

"So how's the car going?" Stacey raised his eyebrows at her, she hated talking about cars, said it was just nonsense and a useless mean to continue a conversation that shouldn't take place. Sheryl was one of those people, _not_ girls but _people_, that if they got the question 'What kind of car do you have?' she'd answer which colour it bore.

"It's running just fine." Sheryl nodded and looked back to her dishes since she expected Stacey to turn and walk out, he hadn't caught up on her hook. She knew there was something on his mind, but she also got the feeling that if she were to inquire it would just get worse. She heard him sigh and watched as he put his hair behind his ears.

"Sheryl?"

"Yeah?" She pretended as if she'd been engrossed with her dishes and slowly looked up to see him shift from foot to foot.

"I am not wondering, just telling you about this thing.. Well you see- there's this rumour going around that you and.. eh- that you and _Stephen Maves_..-" he exhaled loudly after his babble and aimed his stare at her "-are you dating Stephen Maves?" Sheryl snorted and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to crack and see his joking smile.

"Come on Stace-" she scoffed and raised her eyebrows "-where'd you hear something as stupid as that?" Stacey's brows twitched and his gaze fell to the floor and his hands stuffed inside his pockets.

"Tony said that Shogo had heard Chino and Montoya talk about how they'd heard Stephen Maves say that you and him were going to 'explore your newfound friendship.'" Sheryl frowned annoyed over having to solve the word jumble and sources, but as things cleared she started to scowl fiercely. She slammed the dishes loudly and grabbed a near-by towel to dry her hands.

"That _rat_! I've barely talked to him!" She turned and glanced at Stacey.

"You shouldn't just believe anything Stacey, especially not from those pot-heads. I can't believe that _mongrel_ said that!" Sheryl fumed to herself, making short growling noises in her frustration and fought the urge to stomp her foot childishly.

"Is this what's been bothering you? Why you've been so distant from me?" She regretted asking the second she did it, his face clouded over and he looked away from her with crossed arms and flung his hair from his face.

"I got work to do." Sheryl sighed and smiled sadly at Neil who came up to her, quickly dropping pretences when she wasn't fooled, he'd clearly been eavesdropping.

"It's tough being popular with the boys." Sheryl sighed and turned back to the dishes with a heavy heart.

"I _hate_ Wednesday's."

******  
**She'd brought pie as dessert, or possibly dinner since Sid and Jay were in charge for food, and had rudely changed into a pair of old sweatpants and a tank-top.

"Hello?" She smiled brightly in the door and graciously extended the pie to Sid who came to greet her with a hug.

"Hiya' girlie." Sheryl snickered at the 'Skip' impersonation and stepped inside to find Jay and Philaine on the sofa in the living room, Philaine staring at the ground.

"Hello Addams family" She grinned widely at her joke and looked at them with a nod and raised eyebrows to encourage them as mother and son looked up.

"How long have you been saving that one?" She glared jokingly at Sid who was shaking his head at her, mock disappointment, and shared a smirk with Jay.

"I'll have you know that I thought of it just three hours ago, thank you very much" she sniffed and sat down to smile and hug Philaine.

"Hi, how are you?" Philaine blinked her eyes a few times and shook her head to refocus on Sheryl and smiling brightly and hugging her back.

"Sheryl" she said motherly and brightly, infusing a feeling of warmth inside Sheryl's chest. The two women clasped hands with smiling faces, communicating without words, before Sheryl turned to Jay and Sid.

"Why don't you boys fix up the food and let us relax, I don't know about you Philaine-" Sheryl leaned back and yawned obnoxiously just to rile "-but I am absolutely exhausted." Philaine laughed and leaned back as well while Sheryl smiled softly at Jay who slowly made a nod and followed Sid's tug. Twenty minutes later, after plenty of giggles and affectionate talking, Philaine and Sheryl walked in to the kitchen where the two boys sat with a fried egg on each plate and some toast. Sheryl smiled at Philaine who made a happy sound and walked up to the two boys and kissed and patted their cheeks lovingly.

"Tasty." Sheryl rubbed her hands together eagerly and sat down in an up curled position, similar to Jay's next to her. The evening turned out to be quite cosy, Philaine went to bed after deciding to save her piece of pie to later on, and gave them each on kiss on the cheek in goodnight, so now the three of them sat eating pie with hushed voices. Or Sheryl's voice was hushed and trying to quiet down the other two.

"So what are you up to tomorrow?" Sheryl sat with one leg curled underneath her, the other bent by the knee with her foot resting on the seat, chin on top of her knee, and arms loosely draped over her legs. Her eyes were dropping slowly but insistently and the two boys sat chuckling at her yawned question. She was having a nice time.

"Probably skate. The waves are mostly not worth it these days." Sheryl frowned before nodding, as if agreeing with the statement, and turned to Jay who sat staring at her.

"You working tomorrow?" Sheryl shook her head negative with a happy smile that was interrupted with a huge yawn. Sid laughed at her.

"You're sleeping on the couch." Sheryl shook her head again even though her eyes were dropping.

"No, my dad-" she mumbled.

"Yeah, I've seen her dad man. You don't want to get on that mountain's bad side." Sheryl snorted amused at the fear in Sid's voice and Jay sighed when he saw that Sheryl head had now been laid down on the table.

"You got a phone right?" It ended with Sid having to call Sheryl's dad, who naturally demanded to "speak with my daughter right now!" and Jay carrying the sleepy girl who mumbled into the phone.

""Hey man-" Jay looked up from putting a blanket over Sheryl and to Sid's face "-he wants to talk to you." Jay clenched his jaw and walked up to lean against the wall with the phone pressed to his ear.  
"Yeah?"

"If the slightest thing happen to her, I will make it my personal mission to break every bone in your body. Understood?" Jay made a humming noise, mostly to camouflage his discomfort, and mumbled a "yes sir."

"Don't blow this." Jay stood with the phone to his ear and made a poke with his tongue to his cheek and met Sid's questioning gaze.

"We're safe." He smirked at Sid's relieved exhale and nodded goodbye to him a few minutes later. Jay looked to where Sheryl laid and frowned before shaking his head and walked away to his own room and bed.

He rather liked the notion of her in his home.

Sheryl slept on, nuzzling the couch and blanket, dreaming of younger days when she had fewer problems. As if her body had been reminded, her muscles cramped and her chest constricted. She woke up with a pained gasp and curled up into a foetus position, whining to herself. Her forehead was clammy by the time the pain subsided and she was sobbing quietly through her headache and fear. This couldn't continue much longer.

******  
** She'd stumbled home after writing a quick note to Jay and Philaine, thanking them for a pleasant evening and for letting her stay the night, and tried to smile at her father who stood shaking his head at her, almost sadly. She was struck with a wave of dizziness just as she was about to protest to his gesture, and had just begun up the stairs but the next time she could grasp her surrounding she was in her room, in her bed, with her father's worried face over hers.

"Hi honey, how are you?" He stroked some hair from her forehead and sat down next to her hip on the bed.

"Just tired" she mumbled in response and shivered when she felt a cold wind sweep against her bare skin.

Ben Parker was not a smart man in the ways of scholarly or logic but he was by no means stupid when it came to the two either. He knew that something with his baby-girl was off. Her face was pale as a ghost and her forehead clammy and wrinkled in silent pain and her breaths came in small gasps. Ben felt a growing worry spread throughout his body.

"Okey honey-" he answered disbelieving "-but call for me if you need anything. Anything at all you hear? I'll be right downstairs." Sheryl murmured her affirmative and shifted to draw up the blanket to her chin.

******  
**When she came jumping down the stairs the next morning, her father stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her and to feel her forehead.

"You feeling better today?" Sheryl smiled and nodded at her worried father.

"You sure? Um, okey, I'll guess I'm off to work then. I'll see you tonight." He kissed her on the head and they departed in opposite directions. Ben out the front door, off to work, and Sheryl further into the house, to the kitchen for breakfast. She leaned against the coffeemaker who slowly but steadily had begun it's work, and frowned to herself in thought. She made an aggravated sigh and jumped in surprise when she heard a knock on the front door. She glanced down at her boxers and tank top she'd changed into during the night, and whined before patting up to the front door and smiling as she found Peggy at the other side. The girls smiled at each other.

"Hey girl, you look like shit." Sheryl scowled and rolled her eyes still a little amused at her friend's ways.

"Please don't sugar-coat it. Thank you."

"You wanna come skate?" Sheryl raised her arm to rub her fingers against her forehead harshly and leant back against the wall for support.

"I wish I could, but I really can't." Peggy looked at Sheryl with a small frown. Peggy didn't have too many girlfriends, mostly they were too fragile and didn't skate unless in means to attract a boy. But Sheryl, Sheryl was different. She was a girl, somewhat fragile, but she was mature beyond her eighteen years of age, making Peggy herself feel more childish. She, who found herself to be the epitome of maturity.

But the Sheryl in front of her now was not the girl she'd gotten to know these last weeks. This girl was not in good shape; she had the look of someone that knew the world would end. Her hair was lifeless, her face pale and her posture seemed fragile and careful, and not in cautious way. Sheryl gave Peggy a weak smile in apology and Peggy nodded.

"Okey, it's fine. Hope you feel better soon." Sheryl chuckled, somewhat bitingly, to herself and drew her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah me too. I have work on Saturday." Peggy looked at her and poked her inner-cheek with her tongue as she thought.

"You work too hard, and do you ever spend the money?" Sheryl just nodded in affirmative and took a deep breath.  
"How about tomorrow? I'll come by and pick you up and we'll hang out." Peggy smiled hopefully and Sheryl nodded happily with a smile, somewhat sore.

"See you tomorrow girl" Peggy saluted and placed her skateboard on the ground to skate off. Sheryl locked the door, and poured herself a cup of coffee before eagerly shifting on to the sofa, closing her eyes as her head spun.

"_Alright__ miss Parker, I got your test results here-" the tall doctor in a long white robe waved a folder in front of them "-and I'm sorry to inform you that you have a form of Anima." Sheryl shook her head and stared confused at the sympathetic doctor._

"_To simplify; your blood has a difficulty with catching oxygen cause of the lack of red blood cells and it seems that, sorry for the bad wording, your body has reacted differently then the usual cases of Anima, and has escalated the problem to the degree that the medicine we would've prescribed you won't be a permanent fix. We have another pill with extra high dosage of iron and I want you to come back in two weeks to check up so that the iron hasn't been clogged up in your liver or bone marrow and the like." Sheryl nodded and drew a shaky hand through her hair. The doctor sighed with silent agony; __**'she's just a little girl.'**_

"_Are you sure you don't want me to call anybody? Your mother, father?" Sheryl shook her head adamantly and stared the doctor fiercely straight in the eye._

"_I am eighteen, doctor-patient confidentiality right?" Sheryl stared at him worried and slumped in relief as he nodded._

"_Alright,__ then, if you have no further questions I'll hand the recipe to the front desk where you can book our next appointment and purchase the pills." Sheryl smiled and thanked him yet again for his kindness and assistance, trying to control her heaving sobs that began just as he stepped out of the room._

"_Calm down Sheryl, you can do this." She repeated the mantra over and over again, clenching her fists in the examination bed's paper until they burned with exhaustion._

"_You can do this, Sheryl, you can do this." She stood with a deep breath, smiled at the woman in the front desk as she was helped with the recipe and booking a next appointment, and went home to start with tonight's dinner._

She wasn't supposed to get stressed, together with the pills it would cause her body to escalate in function and clog up the iron and red blood cells. The pills she'd been prescribed was by no means cheap, they were quite expensive and took about half of her pay check while the other half went to food groceries and a portion of their rent. Her father had no idea. Her first visit had been during the time when her father was the most hurting of her mother's leaving and when things started to get better, she never found the time to tell him. Or she made no time, to be perfectly honest.

These last weeks had been more eventful then she'd ever experienced in her life and she had more fun then ever before. She had friends now, her work was getting along fine and her dad was, now, exactly the type of father she needed him to be. He cared, but he wasn't nosey.

Suddenly a case of hysteria hit her, and she tried to stifle the sob that came, but soon another followed and pretty quickly she was lying curled into a ball; crying heart-wrenching sobs. She'd never spoken the words; neither had the doctor when he'd told her that the pills she were given wasn't a permanent fix. But she was starting to feel it now; the truth was knocking on her door.

She lied there for a few hours, a time that felt like an eternity, before she took deep calming breaths and tried to calm down.

"Sheryl, you can do this, Calm. Down." She relaxed her body as much as she could and sat up slowly, pouting exaggeratedly when she felt her coffee to be cold.

_Anything to distract herself._

******  
**A long _relaxing_ shower and painted dark red toenails later, Sheryl was feeling better and decided to take a walk. Get some fresh air and some fresh thoughts.

She grabbed a sweather, as usual, and her tiny shoulder bag and felt her feet direct her down to the beach. For being such a beautiful day out, there was a, surprising, lack of people walking around, the exception being the stray dog-walker. She laid back in the sand, cursing the second after landing with her head into the sand since she'd just taken a shower, and stared up at the blue deep sky. She heard some sea-gulls squaw in the back of her head and more close-by she heard a car-door slam and curiosity told her to look behind her but her body refused to listen.

"Well well, if it isn't the _'working-girl_'."

"Hey! Shut it man, before I break it." Sheryl glared as the first voice spoke, the scorning and leering way he'd said the words gave her the most disgusting shivers she'd ever gotten in her life, but her body took the shivers as a initiative to start moving just as the second voice spoke. Sheryl glanced at her bag beside her before looking up to see three young men in front of her; all three overdressed for a visit to the beach. Starting from the left, the first one was the leering face of a guy she recognized from when 'The Counts' came by the restaurant. He was Latino and had short black hair that was just long enough to run his fingers through. He wore baggy jeans and a white tank-top; openly showing his tattoos and among them 'The Counts' tattoo on his upper arm. Beside him stood Stephen, who was glaring at his friend, wearing baggy dark jeans and a dark blue t-shirt; sleeves rolled up. The third one, and the last, was a tall brown-haired guy with green eyes and smoking a cigarette as he stared down at her.

"What's up with these nasty 'whore' comments? I find them cruel." Sheryl heard the rasp in her voice, evidence from all of her crying, and the misery but none of them called her on it.

"They are-" Stephen concurred and glared harshly at his first friend who clenched his jaw when he stopped leering "-and shit-face Maroni over here is sorry. Now, what are you doing down here all alone?" Sheryl looked at this Maroni for a few seconds as he stared down at her, before shrugging and deciding to act normal around the feared gang-leader.

"Not so high on socializing and didn't want to just sit home alone." Stephen frowned at her, wondering what the hell he was doing when caring for this little thing, and nodded for his friends to return to the car. They both scowled, Maroni spitefully at Sheryl before he stormed off, and the green-eyed one handed Stephen his cigarette before looking at her steadily.

"I hear your crowd's in the paper." His voice was surprisingly melodic, and somewhat hoarse from his smoking, to Sheryl who raised her eyebrows and made a surprised sound as he slowly, and gracefully, walked off to join Maroni. Stephen and Sheryl kept staring at each other in silence; the only sound was the water crashing on to the beach in tiny waves and Sheryl fidgeted.

"So what did I do to have earned this lovely surprise? Except for apparently being very _'good friends'_ with you?" She made her voice spit out the two words hatefully and glared at his cold smirk, she blamed him for the comments. Stephen raised his hand to rub his jaw and let out a chuckle when her glare only grew in volume.

"Come on sugar, that's just guy talk. That's all there is. But I'd happily be '_good friends_' with ya'. End those rumours and those rowdy boys." Sheryl snorted and closed her eyes under the sudden pressure before it slowly eased away under the soft murmuring in her ear.

"Come on now chica, don't make me call for help." Sheryl realised that Stephen was kneeling in front of her between her legs with his hands holding her head and stroking her hair.

"Sorry" she mumbled quietly, embarrassed, and looked down.

"Does this happen a lot?" She opened her mouth to answer but instead went to stand.

"None of your business. I'll see you around pal."

"Hey come now-" Stephen murmured softly, _'that tone of voice of his should be illegal'_ Sheryl decided, but the biting undertone was perfectly clear. She looked up at him and frowned, she was getting tired again.

"Don't do that- don't stand there and threaten me and expect me to think of you as a friend." She shook her head and turned to walk up to the road, smiling confused when she found Sid shifting next to Stephen's two friends. She was in the middle of another step when she felt her leg cave and she fell to the side, giving off a loud yelp when a hand curled around her bicep and another around her waist.

"We are chica-" Stephen murmured in her ear, _'that voice is really far too dangerous to be legal'_, and pulled her closer and around to face him "-we are friends." Sheryl took several calming breaths and followed her eyes to where her hands were gripping his arms to his eyes that instantly held her captive.

"What's going on?" she asked softly and flicked her eyes between his with a sense of nervous amusement.

"It's okey. Everything's gonna be okey." The words were too much, they hit too deep, so to shield her eyes that had started to tear up, she closed them. It felt like a sweet mistake for all of a sudden she was aware of how close they were, how strongly he held her, his manly comforting smell, and the vibrations from his comforting voice. He lowered his head, his breaths puffing against her face, making her clench her eyelids, relieved that she didn't have to be the responsible one for once. Her fingers gripped his arms tighter in accordance to the suspense and slowly felt his lips brush against the corner of her mouth.

"It's not mine chica." Stephen's timbering voice woke her from her spell with a disappointed frown. She was caught within those dark-brown eyes that tenderly looked all over her face. Her feet and legs were now steady and his hand dropped from her bicep to catch hold of her cheek, swiping his thumb along her cheekbone,

"You're not meant to be mine." She snorted at him disbelievingly and he chuckled ruefully at the look in her eyes.

"You go up to your little friend and I'll talk to you later. He looks like he's gonna shit himself." Sheryl exhaled loudly in soft annoyance before she nodded with a resolute smile. _It wasn't meant to be._

Sid stood gaping, at her presumably, when she came up, shifting nervously and glancing nervously at the big guys leaning against their car. She gave Maroni a scowl and a snort, glancing at the green-eyed one, before smiling at Sid.

"Hello baby-Sid-" Sheryl murmured and walked beside him slowly, concentrating on breathing rhythmically "-what ya' doin' here?" She could see him fighting between sharing his exciting news and continue questioning her, something Jay must have rubbed off onto him. His excitement got the greater of him though and he gave her a grin.  
"'Team Zephyr' is on the cover of 'SkateBoard Magazine'!"

"Oh! Sid's that awesome!" She grinned at the best of her ability, relieved when it turned out to be enough, and smiled as Sid jumped around excitedly.

"Yeah, it's really cool." Sheryl shook her head amused at Sid's lame attempt of trying to look cool by toning the whole thing down.

"Anyway, Skip is hosting a party tomorrow in celebration. You have to come!" Sid stared at her accusingly, daring her to refuse and nodded pleased when she murmured her acceptance.

"So.. How did the whole skating thing go with 'SkateBoard Magazine' there?" She nudged him playfully and Sid looked around them on her street bashfully.

"I didn't get to skate much. Jay and T.A. got the most attention from the camera while Stacey was interviewed."

"Shocking" Sheryl mumbled teasingly and the two of them chuckled.

"How about Peggy? Did she show up on time to get in?" Sid made a affirmative sound from the back of his throat and looked at their twenty remaining steps mournfully.

"Yeah, she came sailing inside, did one of her things with Jay and stood frowning a lot when the reporter mentioned her being a girl all the time." Sheryl laughed and made quick work of getting her door open and leaning heavily against the door-jam.

"I'll see you tomorrow Sid. Peggy's' taking me somewhere to skate, so we'll probably see you guys around. Otherwise-" she pointed a finger at him and smiled when he immediately pointed one right back "-I'll see you at Skip's celebration party." They made quick and soft goodbyes and Sheryl wasted no time to crash onto her bed and sleep all day, until her father came home to wake her up for dinner.

* * *

So what do you think? Hopefully worth the wait (which I apologize for again) and more is coming along soon.

Review please! Tootles!


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: I am quite sure you've noticed the different behaviour of our little angel Stacey, and yes so have I. Okay, my reasons for changing his behaviour a tad (more so in this coming chapter) has several reasons. One is of course to help and push my storyline forward but also just the fact that there is nothing more satisfying to write then the blow up of a character who's usually the sissy. Hopefully you'll let me do this and don't wish to hang me from my toes. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter five – As Children Do.**

Sheryl made a valiant attempt to hold in her amused snort when she saw a few guys try and cut in front of Peggy in the big pool they were skating in, and hanging out around.

"You can't cut in front of me like that man, somebody could've gotten hurt." Peggy stood in the middle of the pool, hindering everybody's skating, and holding everybody's attention.

"Aw, you could've broken a nail" the guy mocked and shared amused glances with the guys around him. Sheryl spotted Tom, who were on a break from his team to celebrate Team Zephyr's breakthrough, shared a look with her and rubbed his jaw in a sort of contemplative remembrance.

"I wasn't talking about me you fucking idiot!" Peggy snapped and Sheryl jumped up from her seat to gape in shock. That was not the type of language Peggy usually used. The guy she was arguing with froze in shock over her words and scowled at her, jumping down to join her in the empty pool and sneered.

"Someone should teach you, little girl, to not play with the big boys." Peggy sneered right back and looked him up and down.

"And you _junior_ should learn the rules of skating before attempting it." Peggy turned to walk out of the pool with dignity intact when the guy moved and Sheryl jumped to interfere. An arm snaked around her waist and drew her against a chest while two guys jumped down to stand between the guy and Peggy.

"They got her Tiger" the body behind her chuckled and Sheryl found it strange how quickly she recognized him to be Jay. It was comfortable, being so closed in to his arms with his face buried in her shoulder and his hair brushing her collarbone. She looked back when she heard Peggy's voice rise and how the two boys took steps back while looking at the first guy with pity in their eyes. He looked like a small boy now.

"I don't like this talk about you and Stephen Maves" Jay mumbled and tightened his hold around her waist before dropping it and taking a step back. She frowned at his statement and turned around to confront him but he was already skating away toward Kathy and her friends.

"Goddamn punk." Peggy was swearing when she approached Sheryl and sat down on her skateboard.

"What happened?" Sheryl located a stray footstool and sat down opposite the raving Peggy.

"-so I told him the rules, you know to really piss him off, but he actually had the nerve to call me a little girl! I oughta' rip his fucking balls-"

"Woah! Calm down" Sheryl interrupted with a shocked laugh and looked at her friend suspiciously.

"Are you on something? Cause this isn't like you." Peggy stopped and looked to Sheryl, who valiantly tried to not bite her lip in trepidation, before she seemed to crumble in front of Sheryl's eyes.

"Hey-" Sheryl frowned and jumped forward to embrace Peggy who mumbled to her about 'stop being such a girl' "-what's wrong Peg? You're starting to freak me out." Sheryl took a step back and ended in a crouch, kneeling in front of Peggy.

"My mom-" Peggy looked up and around them before continuing quietly and mournfully "-has told me I'm not allowed to skate anymore, she needs help financially."

"But if you continue skating you could get signed and then make money." Peggy nodded with a sad smile and rubbed her face angrily to delete all tears.

"I told her that, and- she told me that since I'm eighteen I can make my own decisions, but in that case I am not welcome to stay at home without paying rent." Peggy didn't need to say more, her mother clearly had Peggy in a catch 22 on that one.

Sheryl sighed mournfully, things sounding far too familiar, and scooted forwards to lay an arm around her shoulders and nudge her forehead.

"When's the deadline?" Peggy made a loud sardonic laugh; people knew her mother's behaviour far too well.

"Wednesday." Sheryl just nodded and looked Peggy in the eye.

"We'll figure this out, you'll see." Peggy blinked back before looking away with a sigh and combed her fingers through her hair. She slowly scooted a step away from Sheryl, trying to do it as inconspicuously as possible, who easily reseat herself onto the little footstool.

"Hey. I'm sorry." Sheryl frowned at Peggy confused.

"What are you talking about?" Sheryl smiled slightly. "We're friends."

"Yeah, no I mean about laying all of this shit on you when you have your own thing to worry about." Sheryl tensed, trying to mask her desperation of anxiety, and fidgeted under Peggy's watchful gaze.

"I don't know what's made you feel that I'm so fragile that I can't even handle a simple case of migraines." Sheryl laughed to herself, feeling far too conscious of the bags under her eyes, and apparently a soft tone off key by judging of Peggy's expression. Sheryl looked back off toward the pool where Sid stood together with Tom, Jay and Stacey.

"Shut up girl, I am not a simpleton like the guys! There is not just migraines that got you in this shape, and I won't force you but you better as hell not stand there and lie to me cause in that case this friendship is over." Peggy's rant had stood her up and placed her hands on her hips like a scolding mother, in front of Sheryl. Sheryl looked up at her friend in understanding and slowly stood up as well, quirking her lips as one of Skip's friends skulked around the pool with his camera.

"Yeah I got ya' but I refuse to answer things if I don't want to." Sheryl glanced back at the boys again, something inside her calling her to and watched as Sid and Tom jumped in to the pool when she watched, leaving Jay standing rock still. He was looking her up and down searchingly, and his expression and eyes was uncannily stony when they met hers.

"I'm gonna head back in there, I'll be back in a while." Peggy gave her a slap on the arm and Sheryl looked away from Jay to smile and nod at her friend. Sheryl tried to take a calming breath, without showing that it was meant to be calming, but she was still met with Jay's piercing gaze when she looked up; a gaze that could see everything. She tried a brave smile, '_she had to do something'_, but when she saw him take a step forward, her jitterish nerves got the best of her and she turned around to join Tom with a small smile. He was sweaty and flushed, there were obvious sweat lines on his back and chest, but he wore the biggest smile humanly possible.

"Hey Sher-bear." Sheryl frowned at Tom with a small smile and raised eyebrow.

"Since when do you talk like that, and call me Sher-bear?" Sheryl twisted her mouth and looked off, missing Tom's amused smirk as he was interrupted by her lecture.

"And not to be like that, but I'm sort of partial to only Michael calling me that." She smiled a tad amused at her own words and swung around embarrassed when a familiar voice entered the conversation.

"Didn't know you felt that way about me Sher-bear." In her surprise, delighted surprise, she let out a undignified squeal and jumped into his waiting arms.

"Michael! What are you doing here?" Michael chuckled amused at the beaming girl and felt a good deal of people greeting him with nods and salutes when Sheryl's squeal caught their attention.

"What are you doing here?" She asked again and laughed a short happy laugh.

"I thought you were off on another tour." Michael laughed at Sheryl's teasing lilt.

"You make it sound as if I've been off on thousands of them." Sheryl rolled her eyes and waved a dismissive hand in the air. Michael chuckled and motioned for her to take a seat.

"I-I've actually changed teams, so I asked if I could go home for a few days and see my girl." A few sniggers and chuckles accompanied the statement and Sheryl looked up with a teasing leer.

"Oh really-" she slapped him on the arm and smiled "-why haven't you told me?" She frowned amused at his stricken look he portrayed and the two pink dots on his cheeks.

"Are you blushing?" She grinned widely as his cheeks darkened further.

"So who is this girl? When did you meet her?" Sheryl straightened into an intriguing stance but turned to someone behind her when she heard a snort.

"You are so naïve baby-girl" Tony's husky voice said and raised his beer bottle by the neck. Michael stood up with a scowl and Sheryl followed.

"Tony." Tony made a mocking nod to Michael in response but kept his eyes locked on Sheryl as he studied her.  
"Jay was right, you do look like shit warmed over." Sheryl flinched like the comment had been a physical blow and took a hold of Michaels arm as he made a move.

"He's drunk Michael" Sheryl murmured and Tony laughed, taking another gulp.

"Not true baby-" Sheryl scowled at his patronising name calling "-but if you want to nurse me back to health; I'm all ears." Sheryl spotted Stacey inching closer to Tony and tensed when she saw the undisputed level of disgust in Tony's face as he batted Stacey away.

"I think you've had enough man" Stacey murmured quietly so to not draw attention, but after just being batted away and ignored he turned and walked off. Sheryl stared after Stacey sadly before turning to Tony angrily.

"You know what? I've had it with you and your bullshit! You're nothing but a big ass, appropriate isn't it, and has been an asshole to Blanca, Stacey and Sid when you're to much of a coward to even defend your friend, so fuck you and your whole shit. I hope you fall and break a leg" she rambled in a angry tirade, not even noticing the fact that Michael had grabbed her arm to stop her from attacking Tony physically. Both Jay and Tony stood glaring at the boy for holding her back, they loved to see the girl all riled up on the verge of homicidal. She stormed off, breaking off Michaels hold and ignored everybody staring at her as she ran after Stacey.

"Stacey!" The boy in question sighed loudly and turned around with a hand in his hair and a frustrated scowl.

"Hey, I know we've been off lately-"

"Off? You think we've been off?" He gave off a loud sarcastic laugh and growled angrily before pinning her with such a violent glare that she took a step back.

"Get a clue Sheryl! I've been trying to let you off easily but you're obviously too stupid to get it!" Sheryl winced and subconsciously moved her arms around her middle as all of her blood ran away from her face.

"I'm sick of you! You try and act all good and true when in fact you've been running around with Peggy and Sid _and Stephen Maves_, instead of me!" Sheryl scowled and looked at him disbelievingly.

"Are you kidding me Stace? This some kind of sick jealous trip, cause in that case I'd be happy to remind you of how important _I was_ when you started running around with that silly crush on Kathy!" Sheryl was breathing hard, probably as red-face as Stacey, and regretted bringing up Kathy just a tiny bit.

"Silly crush? Step down from your high horse miss _Ice-queen_ and get the fuck out of my life and my business. You're just bitter over the fact that you're never gonna be able to get away from here." He nodded violently when she frowned in surprise and shock.  
"Yeah, that's right. You're gonna be stuck here until the day you die, watching as the rest of us makes something out of ourselves!" Sheryl's armour had too many cracks to be able to stop the onslaught of hurt that came barrelling and hated that she could sense the growing crowd behind her, curious of what had made Stacey Peralta lose his temper.

"You don't mean that Stacey, there's gotta be something else." Stacey glared at her again and laughed sardonically; the sound cutting her ears to bleed.

"I do mean it Sheryl, you're just this sad little girl I took in under my wings but now I'm sick of it." Stacey stopped still and stood directly in front of her, ignoring her tears and glared her straight in the eye harshly.

"Get the fuck out my life, immediately and completely." His voice sent cold shiver down her spine and after a few moments of desperately searching his cold eyes, she closed her own and made a single nod.

"Fine" she whispered brokenly and watched as he turned and walked away. For a few minutes she felt as if everything had gone quiet and then there was a loud buzzing in her head, hurting her head with it's high volume and then a hand clasped down on her forearm; putting her back in motion and ending the obnoxious buzzing.

"I'm okey-" she nodded almost desperately, pleading for Michael or Sid to let go of her arm "-I'll see you tonight at Skip's." Without a last gesture or glance to which of them who stood behind her, she walked the forty-minute walk home up to her room, laid down, and stared at her ceiling until the time when it came to be too blurry for her eyes and closed them, feeling the tears fall down the side of her eyes into her hairline by her ears. It didn't take long until she gave out under the pressure and curled into a ball, sobbing her lungs out.

****  
Going to a party to celebrate 'Team Zephyr' getting into 'SkateBoard' magazine, would on any other occasion be a joyous moment. But right now, Sheryl was still struggling with the task of getting out of bed. She'd managed to convince her father, with the best of her abilities at the moment, of the fact that she was just tired when he found her on her bed, staring at the wall almost apathetically; with a last mutter she swung herself up, almost falling from putting such quick strain on her legs, and waddled up to a mirror. Her earlier make-up had been smudged about and her face was pale white with red eyes and tear marks along her cheeks. Scrubbing her face 'clean' before applying new make-up to cover mostly everything, cursing that she couldn't do much about her eyes, she was as good as new. As she stood in front of her closet, her eyes zeroed in on her jeans, her mood called for them, and an old blue shirt completed her look while she swung her hair up into a ponytail. She snorted as she stared down at her basketball shoes as she laced them, why they were called basketball shoes and why she owned them was a mystery since she was both lazy and was as athletic as a fish could fly. She grabbed her sweather from the back of her chair and scrambled down the stairs. She glanced into the living room where her father sat and raised her arms to put on her sweather.

"I'll see you in a couple of hours dad." Ben murmured distracted, pretending to read his newspaper when in fact he was scanning her for signs of distress and sickness. She was far too good at covering things up.

"Have fun." Sheryl moved her mouth in a grimace, resembling the face of someone eating a lemon then a smile, and walked out. She was asking herself why she was even bothering on showing up; most people would still be gossiping about what happened between her and Stacey earlier, and the other half had probably decided to dispose of her cause of the fact that Stacey apparently had. It felt so humiliating and horrible when she phrased it like that; '_disposed of.'_

Maybe Sid would still be on her side, they had established their friendship, and hopefully Michael and Peggy, and maybe Tom. Besides, she always had Skip. She snorted to herself sadly, '_yeah she always had Skip.'_

She stopped outside the little shop, which had an overflowing amount of people streaming in and out, music blaring and a surprising amount of light shining through the large windows. Further along she can see Kathy, Blanca and another girl dressed out as Indians and holding a large cake and catching her curiosity as they giggled before swinging up a tape recorder. She followed them up to the entrance as they entered and came in just as they started to sing and dance to the song of Cher's 'Halfbreed'. Sheryl laughed out loud at the scene, thanking the girls silently to herself for cheering her up, and felt her shoulders relax in timing to when Michael showed up behind her.

"How are you Sher-bear?" Sheryl let out her breath before she turned around and smiled as the girls finished and turned of the music. At sight of Michael's large form she let out a tiny embarrassed smile at her thoughts and figured that she shouldn't be embarrassed.

"Hey- Would it be- I mean- Is it okey- Could you give me a hug?" Michael chuckled at the tiny girl and stretched out his arms widely to embrace her, and quietly shushed her when he felt her dry-sob against his chest.

He raised his arm and hand to cradle the back of her head and soothed her back with gentle rubs along her spine. She emitted a few more sobs and harsh breathing before she took calming breaths and unclenched her hands from his shirt and took a embarrassed breath before stepping out of his arms. Michael chuckled at her shy demeanour; she refused to look away from his wrinkled shirt, and raised her head with his hands on her cheeks and placed some hairs behind her ears.

"Hey, now Sher-bear." She slowly raised her eyes to his and felt herself being caught in his warm gaze. There had been a long time since somebody looked at her the way Michael did, but he looked at her with something that she didn't want from him.

"Stop looking at me like that." Michael tightened his hold on her cheeks and head.

"Why's that?" She looked up at him with her eyebrows raised to her hairline, surprised at the brazenness in his voice and eyes.

"Nothing good is gonna come out of that look" Sheryl whispered and glanced around them, fidgeting since she had nowhere to place her hands. For the moment her arms were hanging down her sides but her back was starting to hurt, and by placing them on Michael she was afraid that he'd take it as encouragement. His mouth slowly turned into a smirk as he looked down at the girl he'd met for the first time by a fluke, finding her immediately fascinating and had originally planned to ignore the fact that he wanted more then friendship; but he had to admit that now after a few beers that THAT seemed like a stupid idea.

"Now don't say that-" he took a step closer to her and brushed his body with hers, delighted at hearing and seeing her gasp "-I could make you happy. I could make you feel good." She made a small nervous laugh at his sexual innuendo and the seriousness of his voice before looking up and shaking her head, placing one of her hands on his cheek.

"You're gonna make a girl so happy one day Michael, and hopefully I'll get to be there when you fall all over her, but it's not me. You're one of my best friends." Michael looked away, but not before Sheryl caught the cold look in his eyes, and watched as he clenched his jaw. Sheryl swiped her thumb over his jaw softly, trying to sooth him, while Michael fought his best to not let her affect him before letting her hips go. He sighed and sagged, looking down at the tiny girl who looked more tired then he'd ever seen her.

"You're a great girl Sheryl, I'll take you in any form I can." Sheryl smiled happily at his words and kissed his cheek friendly before dragging him with her for the celebration. Skip stood in the centre by the drinks table with a beer in hand, his silly grin plastered on his face as he looked around.

"Well hello doll-face, long time since I've seen you." Sheryl cocked her head to the side as he stretched out his arms drunkenly.

"Save me if this turns badly" Sheryl murmured to Michael with a smile, who snorted as Sheryl walked up to Skip.

"Likewise Skipper" Sheryl said back in response and watched as his grin got wider before he froze in shock as she hugged him and pecked him on the cheek.

"I know it's night-time, but be careful with the booze." Skip straightened, in his own way, and raised his bottle.

"Yes ma'm." Sheryl rolled her eyes at his antics and patted him on the arm as she looked off to where she'd left Michael, nodding with a smile when he gestured that he was gonna walk off further in to the crowd. Sheryl followed him with her eyes with a sigh before she looked the other direction from where he went, in search of somebody she knew. As she walked around she smiled at people who gave her a second glance and laughed shortly as one drunken girl smiled even wider and jumped up and down as Sheryl smiled her way. The girl was clearly intoxicated.

She stopped when she noticed a familiar head of brown locks from the corner of her eyes, and laughed out loud when she spotted Sid strutting and posing in front of some lockers with his back crooked and his butt poking out.

"And what does my little baby-girl find so funny?" Sheryl looked to the voice and raised an eyebrow and gave him a speculative smile.

"And what is mister feared gang leader doing here, speaking to lil' ol' me?" Sheryl smiled at Stephen who smirked back, surprising her with his proximity as he walked up to her to cup her cheek. Sheryl's grin wavered at his unexpected gesture and the strong smell of alcohol and weed. She'd spent enough time around the skaters to recognize the smell of pot.

"Enjoying himself" Stephen said, and Sheryl blushed as she slowly realized that he was answering her question. He cocked his head to the side and smiled a soft charming smile.

"You're never gonna change" Sheryl teased and smiled even though Stephens face never registered her words. He placed his hands on her shoulders and it didn't take long for Sheryl to realize that he was studying her face up-close.

"It's just migraines Stephen" she murmured and looked away as she tried to take a step back, narrowing her eyes at him when he increased his hold on her.

"_Chica_-" Stephen murmured, ignoring her words completely "-don't lie. You need to stop spreading yourself." Sheryl tried to, yet again, step away from him but Stephens face clouded over at her movements and yanked her into him to embrace her tightly.

"Tell me the truth" his voice whispered thanks to the loud music in the background. Sheryl grabbed his arms and stared into his eyes, channelling one thought as their eyes locked_. 'I can't.'_

His eyes flashed in anger and Sheryl winced a step back. She shook her head at him when he moved to take a step forward and grab her, again and again, and jumped when her back collided with the drinks table in the middle of the room. As the bottles and table shook and clanked at the impact, drawing more then one pair of eyes to herself, Sheryl stared at Stephen with a guilty and shameful relief as he turned and walked away from her. Sheryl glanced behind her when she recognized Kathy's (now annoying and whiny to Sheryl's ears) voice and floundering movements and felt cold dread when she spotted the boy beside the caught up couple.

"I don't want you to ever wear underwear with me again, okey?" Sheryl choked on her own saliva and blushed at Kathy's demand, and the blunt order and couldn't listen to her brain as Jay raised his head to look her straight in the eye. _'Look away! Look away dammit!'_

"Hi Stacey" Kathy murmured and looked between the two boys before deciding to walk off with a simple brush to Jay's arm.

"You couldn't even tell me?" Stacey's grip on his mug was crushing and he was tense all over, and still his voice barely shook. Jay stood casually opposite his childhood friend, the clench of his jaw the only telltale that he wasn't immune to this situation.

"You couldn't handle her man. She was too much for you man" Jay informed and Sheryl scoffed at his rude and idiotic behaviour, flushing in embarrassment when she realized that she was getting too involved in a conversation she was eaves-dropping on. She looked around herself in the packed crows and felt cold chills attack her body and looked to see Stacey's exit. Sheryl looked back to where she'd seen the two boys before Stacey's departure and found Jay staring at her, waiting it seemed. She shook her head at him and gave him a disappointed look, but couldn't stop herself from walking up to him and glare.

"Is _she_ really worth it?" Jay stared her down and gave her a somewhat amused smirk and raised his hand to grab one of her clenched fists. She narrowed her eyes at his face, and snatched her hand away when she felt the soft trail of his fingers. Physical contact always soothed her and she wanted to remain upset. At her denial, Jay's face swiped clean again and he started to take slow steps backwards, keeping his eyes locked on hers in silent dare to have her follow him. Sheryl followed with a frown and confused over how everybody seemed to unconsciously move away as Jay approached him or her.

"You didn't expect me to go easy on you now cause we're out of watching eyes right?" she sneered at his blank face as he leaned back casually against the wall.

"He's one of your best friends and you're dumping him for some _girl_?"

'_A girl who's already hanging all over another guy?'_She clenched her jaw and looked him up and down pityingly.

"You should have told him earlier and saved your friendship." Something seemed to snap inside Jay at her words and suddenly he had a bruising grip on her wrist and her back and head collided roughly with the wall. She looked up at Jay with narrowed blurry eyes from the pain to see that he'd caged her in against the wall. He took a few deep breaths, looking at her and angling his head to the right slowly, and then to the right.

"Well so could you. I know you saw us that first night, I could feel your eyes following us-" he smirked coldly at her and took another breath, brushing her body with his "-but you've been _busy_ since then haven't you?" Jay sneered and Sheryl looked up at him with angry eyes before she looked down at the almost nonexistent space between them. He looked down at her for a long time; even though her face was angled downwards he had perfect view of the curve of her jaw and her cheeks that had a soft blush on them. He slowly leaned forward; eyes still locked on her cheeks that slowly seemed to get redder in time with his closeness and rested his forearms on each side of her head against the wall. He smirked pleased at her short intake of air and leaned forward so his mouth was by her ear.

"You're so much better then him." Sheryl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not understanding whom he was talking about or why he was complimenting her with that tender voice. His whole demeanour was in fact confusing, he seemed calmer then his usual hyperactive and attention-distracted behaviour, and stood now looking down at her with far more maturity then she ever thought him possible of.

"You're better then Dogtown." He bent one of his arms to brush away some stray hairs from her face and looked her in the eyes determined as he slowly leaned forward. Her mind was a jumbled mess that didn't know what to do, this situation far to familiar in her opinion and her gut was turning her into a nervous wreck. She was surprised and proud of herself that she hadn't started to hysterically laugh yet, as she usually did when she was scared or uncomfortable. Just as there was just a few millimetres left between their lips, their noses touching and Sheryl's eyes half lidded in expectance, somebody stumbled harshly into them, sending Sheryl's head into the wall harshly and shoving Jay away from her.

"Ow" she mumbled and raised her hand to cradle her head, elbowing the drunken guy who was chuckling and smirking at her with an appreciative leer. By the time Sheryl had familiarized herself with her surroundings, Jay was gone.

'_What is going on?'_ Her life was a complete _mess_, and she hated it. She frowned at that thought, analyzing everything that's been going on in her life, the drama she seemed to magnetically attract and she hated how she felt about it. On one hand she hated the implication but on the other hand it was nice to be involved and be known. She couldn't remember doing anything to warrant the spotlight she seemed to be in nor encouraged others into giving it to her. She was sceptic toward Stephen's and Tony's come-ons as well; she knew that Tony was a player and so she would just be another girl in the line but she was unsure about Stephen. One minute he was so strange, playing all macho and the next he was so gentle with her, holding her cheeks and soothing her. She felt a soft smile take over her face when she remembered how he'd handled her on the beach, but her smile wavered at the memory of his face an hour earlier when she'd stepped away from him. She'd kissed boys before, pecks when playing 'Truth or Dare' and she'd had a boyfriend when she was thirteen. They'd kissed a few times, awkward touches and smiles, before Sheryl's home life collapsed and she'd ended things with the boy who quickly moved on. As children might do.

She didn't belong here. The thought slammed into her as she watched people cheering and laughing, drinking and dancing. Speaking in skateboard terms, she had no idea of what they meant, and making out in corners with no thought of the audience they'd attracted. She made a decisive head-shake and began to storm off, dropping speed for a few seconds when she spotted Sid, but then continued her steps and ran away from the shop, listening as everything around her got quieter until all she could her was her steps on the board walk and the pounding in her ears. She slowed down when she spotted the lights in 'Larry's Foodcourt' and Neil cleaning the tables, ready for closing. She was twenty steps away from the doors when she was swung around with a squel from her and felt hands attach themselves on her cheeks along with soothing and calming murmurs.

"Hey chica, it's only me." Sheryl frowned at Stephen who looked more then determined as he kept his hold on her.

"What are you doing here?" She responded with a quiet voice, hating that all she could see was Stephen's big brown eyes that stared down at her fixedly, genuinely perplexed at his presence. Knots and butterflies started fighting inside her belly and Stephen's hands tightened before sliding back into her hair.

"Just something I have to do" he answered cryptically and used one of his hands to hold her chin and guide it closer to his face.

The touch of his lips on hers was like shocks, the soft and giggling feeling spread all over her insides. She raised one of her hands to his cheeks with a small smile and exhaled through her nose in response to the feeling of his short beard. Stephen separated their lips with a few millimetres when he seemed to need to come up for air, before he pressed forward again and rubbed their lips against each other before he slowly opened his mouth to press individual kisses on her upper and then lower lip. After a few minutes of sweet presses and nudges, their heads had separated and they were enjoying the closeness by just feeling and hearing the other one breath, Stephen ending the moment with a short peck on her lips. He raised his hands to pet down her hair that had loosened earlier when she'd been running and gave her a placating shrug.

"I had to do it, even though it's not mine. I'll try and keep it for as long as possible." Sheryl's mind was still clouded so she merely hummed and moved forward to embrace him. The cold was slowly getting to her, but she also mostly wanted to feel his arms around her. There was a murmuring sound and as she'd been lulled into comfort she raised her head with a small amused smile.

"So mr Stephen Maves has read 'Peter Pan'? I'm impressed" she teased and chuckled at his look.

"Shut up chica, don't go around telling people that." Sheryl smiled up at him shyly.

"Don't worry, this moment is not something I'm gonna blab about. This is ours." She forced herself to smile up at him widely, despite her horrible blush.

"I was going to go inside and hang out with Neil, you wanna-"

"No." Stephen interrupted gruffly and Sheryl frowned as she took a step back.

"Okey.." He raised his hand to give her chin a nudge and a pure male smirk.

"I'll see you around." He took a few backing steps before he turned and strolled off, pulling up a cigarette and lighting it. Sheryl frowned at his back and the way he'd left before she walked inside and slumped on the counter in front of him.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Sheryl shrugged and looked up with her cheek resting on her palm.

"Tired and confused." Neil pouted dramatically at her frown and sat down next to her and placed an arm around her shoulders.

"Tell me what's wrong." He nudged her head to lean on his shoulder and she took a deep breath.

"Okey, two things. First; I've been almost kissed two times this week and by two different boys." She snorted at Neil's bright grin and eager face.

"Go on." Sheryl's mouth slowly tugged into a smile.

"Okey, I almost got kissed by Stephen a couple of day's ago and earlier tonight Michael hit on me and Jay almost kissed me and just now; I was making out with Stephen Maves. What the_ hell_ is going on?!" Sheryl looked at Neil pleadingly, for him to solve all of her problems. Neil merely chuckled at her face and shrugged with a wide grin.

"It's rough business being as pretty as you around all those teenage boys." Sheryl scowled at him and Neil chuckled again before he cleared his throat.

"Okey, what was the second 'wrong'?"

"Well you know mine and Stacey's fight earlier today?" Neil nodded with a scowl and an angry glare into air.

"I oughta' kick his ass and-" Sheryl shook her head adamantly and interrupted him by touching his arm.

"Don't. Kathy and Stacey broke up tonight after it turns out that she'd been seeing and hooking up with Jay behind his back."

"What a fucker!" Neil swore and Sheryl clenched her jaw guiltily and looked away.

"I knew and didn't tell him." Neil looked down at her, surprised over her behaviour and Sheryl bit her lip in shame.

"Why didn't you?"

"I didn't want to be the one who hurt him." Neil stared at her for a few seconds before he sighed and gave her a hug. Sheryl laughed a short laugh and hugged him back, but they jumped apart at the sound of a loud slam against one of the windows. Sheryl turned around swiftly to see Stephen glaring with two friends behind him, crooking his finger for her to come outside. Sheryl frowned confused, smiled comfortingly at Neil when he tightened his grip on her to stop her, and walked out to see Stephen telling his friends to back up and give him and Sheryl some privacy.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Sheryl stared at Stephen shocked with furrowed brows and raised her arms to hug herself from the cold.

"What's wrong with you?" He made a move to grab her arm but she winced a step back from him and snapped her head up to glare at him with more bravery then she had.

"Don't touch me when you're angry." Stephen narrowed his eyes at her before he pointed back to where Neil stood staring at the two, never taking his eyes from Sheryl's.

"Why were you in his arms? You just another slag?" She winced and sucked in a deep breath, placing her hands over her stomach in a try to dampen the feeling that he'd just punched her, and stared into his eyes in shock over the venom and coldness in his voice.

"Got to hell. You actually considered me to.. after we.. just twenty minutes ago-" she looked away and then back at him with a hurt face. It hurt that he just assumed that she was one of those girls who just went along to the next guy, some common slut, but slowly her hurt started to transform into anger. Such undiluted anger that resulted in her lowering her arms from her stomach to shove at his chest angrily.

"Fuck you! I don't have to explain myself, you've clearly already made up your mind." She sneered at him and turned to walk inside, stopping in spite of herself when she felt a soft touch to her wrist.

"Ey chica-" she turned around to face him with a neutral look and registered his surprise before he continued, "-what was I to think when I see you in the arms of another guy."

"You could trust me. I'm not like those others girl's you've been with in the past." She kept her face serious and neutral as she spoke, only following him as he took a step closer.

"You aren't" Stephen agreed and looked around her face. Sheryl nodded, she was getting anxious and impatient with this whole situation. She wanted to talk a bit more with Neil before she had to go home and sleep in preparation for tomorrows shift. Stephen seemed to sense her anxiousness cause he nodded with a last look into her eyes and took a step back.

"I'll see you around."

"Mmkey" she answered and walked inside, barely reacting to how his thumb stroked her palm as she walked off. She smiled at Neil who was turning off the lights and walked up to him to touch him on the shoulder.

"You alright?" Sheryl nodded and sighed.

"It's the bad-boy syndrome, not even I seem to be able to escape it." Neil snorted and Sheryl smiled bitterly. He laid an arm around shoulders and drew her closer to his chest and kissed her on the head.

"I'd prefer Jay Adams over him." Sheryl glanced up with a questioning smile but Neil just shook his head at her.

"Go home and rest. I hear from Larry that you've signed up for two weeks." He gave her a reproachful look when she nodded.

"It's too much for you, you're gonna collapse." He stared at her as she looked around the establishment, ignoring his look.

"Do you really need the money?" Sheryl laughed sardonically and drew her hand through her hair.

"Yeah-" it hurt her throat to suppress her words "-I really need the money." Neil tensed and looked at her even more searchingly, seeming to have heard her undertone.

"Answer me truthfully Sheryl-" he grabbed her arm and made sure that he had eye contact "-are you in any way, in some kind of trouble?" Sheryl looked at Neil and smiled, swallowing down her shame when he visibly relaxed.

"Of course not Neil."

"I just wondered there for a second you know, you said that_ you_ needed the money, usually you say you need it so you can pay rent for you and your father." Sheryl shrugged, almost scared over how easily she could lie and was believed. The blanket of lies was almost too thick for her.

"I'll see you later Neil" she smiled and kept the smile on her lips for over a block, then she let it fall and leaned against a brick wall. She tried to quell her first and second sob, but soon she was far too gone. Her heart felt like it was going to burst but at the same time it felt like somebody was hitting it so it would stay in place. She must have stood there for at least a half hour before she pulled herself together and stumbled home. She slowly rubbed her face to get rid of the scratchiness and splotches.  
Her father seemed to still be awake, or he might have fallen asleep waiting up for her, cause the living room lamps were lit. She hoped he could sense that she weren't in the mood for company or lectures; she just wanted to go upstairs and go to sleep. She felt her eyelids slowly drop, and tiredly forced them up again and squinted her eyes uncomfortable from their dryness, and stumbled the last steps to the door. She had just enough time to close the door before her father came walking up in only his underwear. She cracked a smile and joked;

"You're scarring me for life here." It was kind of strange to have a father who was in better shape then most of the guys in her age. Ben however was _not_ amused.

Her night did not end with just going upstairs to sleep, instead she had to sit in the living room on the couch, unconsciously rubbing her wrist, listening to her father preach.

****  
The morning after she was on her way off to work in the morning cold, yawning and stumbling down the street, shivering in her skirt and ballet shoes. She had borrowed her one of her father's T-shirt's, as per usual to his secret delight, and was trying to alster as much heat as possible in her cardigan. Her hair was free, keeping her ears and throat warm. She frowned when she heard a strange rustling sound and looked around herself, slowly processing that something was rolling along the street and towards her. There was a crouching figure on top of the source of the sound, and two arms stretched out as he slowly stood up and slowed the speed so he stopped by her.

"Hi Stacey." Sheryl clenched her hands on her arms and winced when she pressed to harshly on the bruise on her wrist from yesterday.

"Hey." He kept looking over her head and tucked his hair behind his ears; always holding that polite air.

"How are you?" She shifted on her feet and looked up to see his eyes locked on hers before he looked up after a second of contact.

"Fine." Sheryl bit her lip when she realised that it was quivering and with a last goodbye to her lapsing pride she looked at him beseechingly.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I don't know why I didn't tell you, it's just that I was scared that you wouldn't believe me and I was sort of hoping that she would pick you after I told her the ultimatum and-" she sighed wretchedly and looked away.

"Yeah well-" Stacey cleared his throat and looked down to look at his own limbs stepping up his skateboard and twirling it through his fingers "-I was on my way to quit my job at Larry's, I'd forgotten you had the morning shift, cause I won't have much time over." Sheryl twitched her lips sadly when she realized what it really meant. He'd gotten recruited.

"That's really great, I wish you the best Stacey." They both nodded somewhat awkwardly before Sheryl made a move to continue walking, she did have a time to meet.

"Could you tell Larry for me then?" Sheryl made a amused sound before murmuring a affirmative and smiled up at him softly. Some things between them never changed. Stacey looked down at her and this time didn't look away when their gazes met. Sheryl hated that she felt undeserving to return his look so she awkwardly looked away and cleared her throat and scratched her throat. A few seconds later the sound of Stacey's board went rustling off and she sighed as she walked into the 'foodcourt' to find Larry with two cups of coffee.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Sheryl snorted in spite of herself and smiled at the old man.

"Diddo you oldie." Larry scoffed and nudged one of the cups towards her and gave her one of his famous stares. Sheryl sighed; everybody seemed to give her those stares these days. It was like they didn't trust her.

"I met Stacey, I was to tell you that he's quitting." Larry merely nodded as if he already knew this and Sheryl frowned annoyed as he kept staring at her.

"What!" she snapped and looked away, shamefaced at her rude tone. Larry wasn't faced at all; he merely raised his cup to his mouth and after taking a sip he put it down again, without taking his eyes off of her.

"Sorry" she murmured properly chastised by just a look and raised her own cup to take a delightful sip. Larry always made the best coffee known to man.

"The boys and Stacey taken good care of you?" Sheryl smiled at Larry's nonchalant way while his tone meant business and looked away from him under the pretence of enjoying how the sun seemed to peek up outside.

"Yeah-" she smiled in remembrance "-they've all been very nice. They've taken me with them to skating competitions and I've made some new friends." Sheryl had trouble remembering how things had been before, when there had been no friends. Larry hummed behind his cup and looked around the place noncommittally.

"I've had this restaurant for seven years, it's been my life. Now I'm not so sure my obsession with profit was for the best." Sheryl looked up at Larry surprised at his words and found him to look a lot older then he'd ever looked before with his wrinkles and slouch around his mouth.

"It's not too late for you, you know? Just get out there and live your life." Sheryl smiled encouraging but Larry merely smiled at her.

"Do you know how old I am?" Sheryl shook her head shyly; she knew that one were _never_ to guess another's age.

"I am fifty-seven years old." He looked her in the eye with a content look.

"I've lived my life in my own way. Make sure you try to live your own life to the fullest Sheryl, you never know when it might end." Sheryl was amused in the beginning of his speech; he made it sound as if he were seventy-five but she felt her face drain of blood at the end and snapped her head up worriedly. Larry was giving her a pleading look and Sheryl smiled in relief and acquiescence.

"I know what you're saying Larry and I agree with you, but my searching will just have to be postponed for a little while longer." She smiled softly to give the whole a lighter tone, but Larry still sighed with a resounding sigh and glanced up at the clock, Sheryl following his movement.

"Time to open up and start cooking." Sheryl smiled and jumped down from the stool to stand on the floor and began taking down all the chairs from the tables.

"You know Neil is fond of you." Sheryl raised an eyebrow at Larry just as she was taking down a chair, amused at the sudden input.  
"Okey Larry" she chuckled and went to start the coffee machine.

"I'm just saying that's all Sheryl-" he lowered his chin and pinned her to stand still with his gaze "-don't you think it's time for you to start thinking about a boyfriend? There's plenty of them standing in line." Sheryl laughed; both at the absurdity of Larry trying to _'hook her up'_ and his strange timing. She waved a dismissive hand in the air.

"Boys are stupid. Besides, there is no boy that could handle me" she teased and snorted to herself before smiling at Larry.

"You have to start letting people in, otherwise they'll all react like Stacey did." Sheryl's head snapped up and uncharacteristically glared at the man as he turned to take down the last chair.

"He quit. I shouldn't be forced to open up. If they want to leave, then they'll leave." She tied her apron around her waist and tied up her hair, ignoring Larry.

"You have to let go of all of that about your mother Sheryl." Sheryl merely snorted and scowled. He knew _nothing_ of her mother or _her_ for that matter.

****  
Twelve days later and Sheryl was a total wreck. Her hair hung lifelessly down her back, her skin was pale and washed out yellow, and she had huge bags under her eyes from fatigue. She had managed to disguise the worst of it with make-up, but most weren't fooled. Especially not Sid and Larry.

Sheryl was stapling the dishes from a table in her arms and looking as a family of three struggled to get dressed. The father quickly put on his jacket to kneel down by his daughter to help her mother get their daughter dressed. Sheryl smiled at the little girl who was looking up at her, very much in the way that Sheryl herself used to look at older girls when she was in that age. With admiration.

"Thank you" the mother smiled with a nod and Sheryl took that as her cue and left politely. She gave a tight-lipped smile to the new girl in the kitchen who gave Sheryl a scowl as she dropped of the dishes; lacking the teasing tilt Stacey's 'kitchen-scowls' used to have. Sheryl sighed and raised her eyebrows at Neil who stood nearby and gave her a noncommittal shrug. She'd been counting the days, making sure she'd taken all of her medicine and merely smiled at her father when he expressed his worries.

'_It's just migraines daddy, you know I can take care of myself.'_

During these twelve days she hadn't met Stephen or anyone from his gang. She wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with his view on things, and she was most certainly not telling him about her condition.

Sid had visited her, and shown to be a more trusted and cherished friend then she'd suspected, and often brought Jay with him to talk and spend time with her. Once or twice, Jay had brought Kathy with him and during those two times Sheryl and Sid would exchange a look and Sheryl would then proceed to slouch in her seat and try to act superior to Kathy as she scowled at Sheryl.

"You know, it's not good for your posture to slouch in that way." Sheryl looked up to sneer at the voice but froze and instead grinned happily. Sid stood leaning on his elbow in front of her with his head tilted and smiling.

"Like wise to you, your head's gonna implode from all that excess cockiness." Sheryl smiled at Sid and stuck out her tongue teasingly. There was something about Sid that brought out the childish side in her. Sid merely scoffed and made a nod to someone behind him, Jay who gave her a moody nod, and Sid rolling his eyes in response; showing that Jay had been in this mood for the entire day.

"Anyway-" Sid interrupted as Sheryl's eyesight had gone back to Jay who stood staring at her right back "-we thought we'd come by and maybe persuade your co-workers to let you take your lunch and also treat us to some ice-cream." Sheryl made a loud laugh at the eagerness in the nineteen-year-old boy, and felt a pang of guilt when she saw how thrilled Sid looked at the sound of her laugh. She glanced around them in the full establishment and frowned sadly when she turned back to them.

"How about you guys come back later, around five or so, and we'll close up together and I'll treat you to some of that cold heaven." She grinned at Sid who pouted at her tease; he'd referred ice-cream to being a piece of heaven and then amended when Sheryl had given him a look. It was cold heaven, which only got him started on how all of the winter slopes in heaven were made of ice cream and he'd continued in that agenda for about twenty minutes. After sticking his tongue out a last second, Sid nodded somewhat disappointed but shooed Jay away and approached the door and exited with a last goodbye.

"I haven't seen you like that for a long time." Sheryl turned to Michael at his wistful tone.

"Sid is one of my best friends, so are you-" Sheryl grinned when Neil blushed "-yes you are, and you guys can always make me feel better. You're like my honorary brothers." Sheryl smiled widely at being able to define them correctly, but it dimmed when she saw how happy he seemed to be at the declaration, and moved forward to give him a hug.

"Just to make sure you know; I love you Neily." Neil shook his head and scowled at the nickname.

"I love you too" he sighed but smiled and gave her a one-armed hug before they turned back to work as more people arrived.

****  
Three hours later Sheryl sat leaning back in one of the food court's sofa chair, laughing so hard that both Sid and Jay, despite their own laughing, were afraid of her falling backwards. Neil and the new girl had left a few minutes to five, Sid and Jay already seated at a table anxiously awaiting the revered ice cream, since Sheryl had promised to do the cleaning up. Both boys had been telling her about Sid's strutting at the previous party _(Sheryl exclaiming laughingly: "So that was what I saw!")_, Jay adding some of the finer parts, including the part that gave Sheryl teasing material.

"Thunder Monkey?" Sheryl gave jay an amused glance and therefore made him choke on his mouthful.

"Sid and Thunder Monkey, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Both Sheryl and Jay snorted as Sid sat up with an appalled face.

"I will have you both know that there was more then kissing going on." Sid straightened pleased and smirked to Sheryl and Jay who chuckled.

"Really? So you're one of those that.. Kiss.. and tell?" She shook her head and clucked her tongue.

"Why I never!" Sid grumbled and Sheryl found herself sharing yet another smile with jay. She'd been known to do that a lot lately. He seemed more mature nowadays, and therefore not giving her the same urge to throttle him. No, her throttling scenarios seemed more and more often end with her wondering how it would feel to kiss him. Have all of that energy solely focused on herself. _'Shit!'_

Butterflies attacked her stomach with a vengeance and her face blanched in worry at being caught in her thoughts.

"Sheryl? Hey, you okey?" She shook her head to clear it before she nodded. Jay was leaning forward in his seat with his frame braced on his forearms on the table with a focused frown and Sid sat beside her rubbing her arm worriedly.

"Yeah I'm fine, got a little crazy there just a second." She frowned as she stared at Jay again, her butterflies attacking again when she noticed his undiminished focus, but it was like somebody had pulled out a plug cause her butterflies was drained away as she noticed the new look in his eyes. He was amused. _'He's laughing at me!'_

Embarrassed she glared at him and shooed Sid's worries off with a careless shrug and dismissed Jay for the rest of the afternoon.

As they stood by her front door, saying goodbye, Sheryl still felt sore over her feelings and how see-through she seemed to be with Jay. He stood a few steps away, Sid had just given her a half-hearted hug, concerned over her distracted focus, and Sheryl stopped in mid-move to turn to him. Something he seemed to notice judging by his smirk.

"Aw, come on-" Jay murmured and stretched his arms out, catching her attention "-that is not the right way to make a boy like you." Sheryl froze and stared at him in shock. So did Sid, shifting his focus between the two of them. Jay was smirking widely with his head tilted to the side and leaning against one of the pillars by her door; he always seemed to find some surface to lean on.

"Oh I know-" she sighed in anguish and almost broke it at sight of Sid's shocked face (he had the face of someone seeing a piece of shit conversing with the dog who'd just dumped it.)

"You remember that time when you spied on me and saw me changing?" She didn't have to remind her further, the lazy smug smirk was telling enough of that fact.

"You remember what you said to me that night-" she walked away from her front door and closer to him, right into his face "-when you came rolling down the street on your skateboard?" _'"You're probably a good friend-" "-but then you're always panting after Stacey."'_

Jay's face clouded over before it went perfectly blank and Sheryl saw Sid react from the corner of her eye.

"And that-" she took even another step closer to him, ignoring how good he smelled "-is why I wouldn't want you to like me back. You're too closed off, you're like a stone." They stayed in that position for a minute, both breathing hard as if they'd just ran a marathon, or was trying to suppress their emotions; Sheryl flickering her eyes between his eyes and for a quick second to him mouth, determined to stare back into his eyes despite her embarrassment. Proving to him that she weren't gonna back down. Jay gave a tiny curl of the lips in response and gave her a long stare before he leaned forward; just enough to send her brain on vacation and spoke low enough so Sid couldn't hear.

"Well you're no open book either miss Parker. Don't think for one second that neither Sid or I believe you bullshit excuse of migraines." He slowly leaned back again and glanced at Sid before he looked back at her.

"You expect something, then you better sure as hell show the same courtesy." He turned spitefully and walked off, Sid giving Sheryl a small smile to soften the blow before trailing after Jay, who slung an arm around his shoulder. Sheryl sighed heavily and let her chin drop onto her key-bones.

"Hi honey." Her father's steps fell heavily on the floor and gave her a wide smile as he opened the door. Sheryl smiled back at him.

"Hi dad. You have a good day?" She patted his arm as she passed him, sagging contently in one of the chairs when she noticed that he'd already made them dinner.

"Yep, got a raise and you won't believe this beetle that showed up, incredible condiotion and-"

"Wait, what?" Sheryl stood and smiled at him, laughing and jumping to hug him when he nodded and smiled widely.

She shrieked happily and failed to notice Ben giving off a loud relieved sigh. This was why he'd worked so hard these last months, why he'd lost even more time with his girl, so that he could climb up that goddamned ladder to that larger sum and now be able to stop worrying.

"You don't have to work so much anymore." Sheryl frowned amused at the hand-off comment and looked up at Ben.

"I earn enough money now, for rent, so now you can work together your own money. All the money you decide to earn from now on will all be yours." Sheryl was still confused, and not really following his meaning, based on past reference.

"But, you've always said that as long as I live under your roof I'll have to pay rent." Ben was frowning at her, not really enjoying the feeling of being reminded of the things that he'd said during the period when he'd taken out his misery over Kim's leaving, on Sheryl.

"Yes well, that should only have applied to now when you're eighteen so I belive you've already paid for two years now." Ben gave a scowl at having to admit to being wrong, and checked the oven to see if their food was ready.

"Oh, well that's great!" Sheryl exclaimed after sensing the beginning of a storm in her father's mood. She smiled a small smile and fell back in her chair as she started thinking.

"Dad?" Ben hummed to show that he was paying attention.

"What am I supposed to buy for the money then?" Ben made a short laugh and Sheryl felt a pang of guilt in the same instance as a wave of anger towards her father who'd never paid attention enough to get to know her. She'd only posed the question so that in case he ever found out about the monthly withdrawal, he would merely assume that she was spending the money on herself.

"Try and live your life Sheryl. You're only young once, but don't spend it all in one place-" he pointed a finger at her; she figured he was trying to be parental and wise "you should save in case of harsher times."

Sheryl fought the urge to snort bitterly and merely smiled obediently.

* * *

Sorry, as always I am slow on the update. Hopefully you guys like it cause I have worked hard on these.

I want to thank you guys who up until now has regularly reviewed, they are very inspiring! Have a good one!


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note:

Hey guys! First I just gotta say thank you for reviewing. I know I haven't been good at responding to your feedback, but I just want you to know that when those pling up on the mail it's like a golden ticket!

I am sorry for the slow update, I don't really know why my brain is so dry but I am trying. Now on to the story!

Don't really know if there's so much going on here, mostly a filler but also trying to really introduce the new characters. Realised I haven't given them all that much time. Plus Sheryl's thoughts on Stephen were pretty selfcleansing. ;)

I'm also establishing more when it comes to the friendship between Sheryl, Sid and Jay.I'm trying to make her come out of her shell so hopefully you'll like this. Give me a holla' with your opinions!

Hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Six – Having a Moment.**

She was happy. Or not necessarily 'happy' but she'd finally figured out the perfect plan for Peggy's problem so at the moment she was skipping on her way to the girl in question's home. She spotted Peggy sitting in a wooden swing, somewhat hazard, with her baby-brother in her lap.

"Hey sexy-mama. I got the answer to your problem." Sheryl smiled up at Peggy who glanced down to check on her younger brother; he was stretched out along the seating in the swing beside her, before motioning to Sheryl to come up the small steps.

"Hey girl. What ya' talking about?" Sheryl smiled brightly and made dramatic arm-movements with her explanation.

"I don't have to pay rent at home anymore, since my dad got a raise, so I can pay your part of the rent with my salary until you get recruited." Sheryl made a ending bowing arm wave with a bright smile, but toned it down when she noticed that Peggy wasn't sharing her joy.

"What?" Sheryl smiled, somewhat dimmer this time, and repeated herself:

"Your part of the rent, I can pay it now when I don' t have to pay it at home. Go and skate and just-" she shrugged "- go after what you want and be happy." Peggy smiled, that kind of smile that has a sad tilt to it, somewhat condescending and pulled a hand through her hair.

"I can't do that Sheryl." Peggy looked down at her skateboard longingly, but knew she was doing the right thing.

"Peggy, come on-" Sheryl entreated and crossed her arms over her chest "-let me do this. You know what you want from your life and I don't and I can't be honest about things so.. just let me do this." Sheryl nodded with an air of finality and turned and walked away.

****  
By now, it was quite clear, in Sheryl's eyes that things with Stephen were through. Part from stopping by the restaurant once for ten minutes, Sheryl at that time having to drag out and practically beg for them to meet another time (a time that never came cause he didn't show up to decide the final things), she hasn't seen nor heard from him. While one part of her was dominant in the times when she was lying on her bed crying (telling her over and over how unwanted and undesirable she was), the other part was taking it for what it was. A good time with an immature and emotion constipated, selfish asshole in the form, of a hot guy.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sheryl glanced around at the number of guests, deciding they were a enough distance away, before she wiggled her eyebrows at Neil. He merely sighed, did the same teasingly, and heaved up the carton of ice cream they had stashed in the front freezer for personal use, and scooped some of it into a bowl which he handed to her.

"I'm meeting Sid and Jay, we're gonna 'hang out'." She made bunny ears at the last two words and made a exaggerated smacking noise with her lips after taking a first taste on the ice cream.

"Be careful" Neil sing-songed in a very female voice, making Sheryl snort amused before smiling and taking her bowl to a table she'd scouted out.

"I will" she sing-songed back and heard Neil snigger as the guest stared at her, not realising she was addressing somebody beside herself. She put down her bowl and smiled in apology at an old lady when she accidently tripped over it's handles, screaming when she found Jay's face right in front of her when she turned back to her table.

"Dude, chill" he laughed and nudged a laughing Sid as he scraped out the last of her ice cream bowl.

"Assholes" she muttered and jumped again when she felt a heavy arm curl behind her shoulders.

"Aw, come on chica, they're having fun." Sheryl glanced to the side at his voice and found Stephen's face, or more exactly his bulging eyes that were jumping all over the place. All of her anger and hurt seemed to flutter away and her brain could only register him in the present. She raised her hand to his head with a smile and felt the short hairs, about two cm tall, with a wrinkled noise.

"It's weird, but I like it!" she exclaimed and righted the blue scarf he had around his head, failing to notice his clenched fist behind her or the shock some of the customers portrayed at her fixing the bandana. When she looked back at Sid and Jay, she just realized they were wearing scarves just like his. She turned back to ask him where he's been the last week, the sight of Jay and Sid seemed to clear her head, but yet again she got distracted by his bulging eyes and how they were still bouncing all around the place and the strange smell oozing off of him.

"You okey?" she frowned and heard Jay sigh opposite her.

"Yeah" he nodded as if to tell her she was stupid for even asking the question.

"Sorry" she scoffed and looked away, glaring at Jay when she spotted her empty ice cream bowl again and felt a jolt when he lewdly licked his lips. She sneered to disguise her jolt and jumped when Stephen nudged her on her shoulder; ignoring him in favour of Sid who desperately tried to get a conversation going.

"So-" he started and Sheryl smiled empathetic "-what are we gonna do today?" Stephen shifted and placed his arm behind her shoulders on the seat, earning glares from both of the boys opposite him before they cleared their faces.

"Me and the guys were cruising around the other day and we found these huge concrete pipes. Wanna check em' out?" Sheryl raised her eyebrows and straightened her lips, not really catching onto the attraction, but Jay's enthusiasm kicked in instantly and Sid's quickly followed. Sheryl jumped when she felt fingers trail on her throat under her ear, burrowing her head to lock the hand, and blushed when she found all three of them staring at her imploringly.

"Fine fine, as long as I don't get bored I'm in." She looked at them all to get them to stand, but found Jay and Sid looking to Stephen, as if for _permission?. _Sheryl looked up at Stephen and swallowed when she found his eyes staring down at her.

"What?" she whispered and forced herself to stare back into those eyes, those eyes which were flying all over the place and bulging out from his face unnaturally. Stephen made a few swipes on her neck, for kicks Sheryl presumed, before he merely stood and smirked. Sheryl frowned, not liking the confusion, before she made a move at Sid to show herself approaching Neil behind the counter; she heard him mumble something about "coffee maniac" so she knew he's understood her.

"Hello my sweet brother in everything except for blood." Sheryl smiled the widest and most innocent smile she could manage, up to the point that it almost started to hurt.  
"Coffee right?" Neil mumbled something to himself, a scoff in there as well, and Sheryl stared at him strangely.

"You're scary."

"No, I know you. You've just had ice cream so right about now you're craving coffee. That smile you just gave me, the one that looked like it hurt, kind of screamed 'give me coffee'." Sheryl took a hold of the coffee he handed to her automatically and gaped at him, before slowly nodding.

"Yeah, I was right. You're scary." Neil rolled his eyes and told her to have a fun day. She walked out to see the three boys stuffed inside Stephen's car, she remembered him driving it when she'd just met him, together with Stephen's other two friends. Maroni who just leered at her as he looked her up and down, and then the other who merely gave her a blank stare as he skipped over her form.

"So.. where exactly am I supposed to sit?" Her question received multiple reactions but no response. Maroni was sneering at Jay, Stephen's silent friend had shifted his blank stare forward and out the front window carelessly. Stephen himself sat scowling as he stared in the rear-view mirror and Jay and Sid sat with frowns and smirks respectably.

"We flipped for it and, long story short-" Sid laughed and grinned at her "-you're sitting on Jay's lap." The coffee cup Sheryl had risen to her mouth stopped about a quarter inch away and Sheryl's shocked eyes landed on Jay who's frown was starting to melt into a pleasing smirk. Sheryl shook her head adamantly.

"Uh, uh, not gonna happen. I refuse to get attacked by his girlfriend-" she made a gagging noise to accompany the word 'girlfriend', to everyboody's amusement but Jay's "-and get accused of being a boyfriend stealer."

"Aw, come on baby" Jay teased and spread out his arms invitingly. Sheryl looked to Sid pleadingly but he just looked at the other guys worriedly when they found glares on them for her to get in the car.

"Oh god" she whiningly mumbled and with a last sigh she embarrassed climbed in and took a seat sideways on Jay's lap.

"Shut up" she snapped when she saw Maroni open his mouth and glared at Jay when he placed his hand on her thigh just under the skirt of her dress had ridden up.

"What? Where else am I supposed to put it?" Sid guffawed at the statement and the other guys chuckled leeringly at the double innuendo, Jay's smirk and Sheryl's blush.

She looked down at him and smiled a sugary sweet smile.

"You are aware of the fact that I have no restrains to the act of elbowing your groin and then pouring my hot coffee all over-" Jay had tensed but suddenly her coffee cup was grabbed from her and thrown out the window and Sheryl stopped her gaping to glare at Maroni who looked quite pleased.

"What the fu-" she was interrupted by her own squeal as Jay attacked her side with tickles and jumped when he chuckled under her. She was attacked again by Sid who was reaching back from the front-seat, and in self-preservation leaned away from him, but found herself locked to Jay. He'd shifted her so she sat with her back to his chest and had his arms around her waist, holding her arms still, and locked her legs with his own, restraining her to just buck up and down.

"Don't you dare Sidney, I will kill you." Sheryl glared at Sid warningly and watched him stop to think it over before a small smirk took over and he nodded to himself.

"It'll be worth it" he murmured and began his attack, laughing loudly at her squeal and huff to get away. He retracted his arms to his body when he felt them starting to burn and turned to look at Maroni and their fifth companion who sat staring at a flushed Sheryl unabashedly. As she twisted again, still laughter on her face, Jay let out a groan by her ear and chuckled somewhat self-depraving.

"You don't want to be doing that" he murmured and Sheryl took a few deep breaths and twitched unwillingly and felt his reaction to her bucking. Jay chuckled again and smirked at Stephen in the rear-view mirror as he shifted under Sheryl, making her freeze and close her eyes at the strange fluttering she got.

"We're here" Stephen's gruff voice proclaimed and all the boys chuckled at the blurry figure of Sheryl who practically threw herself out of the car.

"Finally! Get me out of this car with all of these boys."

"Now what do we have here? Brought me a gift did ya'?" a leering voice said that made Sheryl glance up after throwing her hair out of her face, and find a replica of Stephen, only darker. He had his head shaved just like the other guys, bandana around his head and a black tank top and baggy jeans. Sheryl furrowed her eyebrows and had just opened her mouth to respond when two arms circled her from behind and a chin placed on her left shoulder.

"'fraid not Felix. This little tough cookie has enough boys running after her so let's try to stay out of that fight eh?" Sheryl turned to Maroni with her hands on her hips as Felix turned to greet Stephen, and was too stunned to find a charming smile on his face towards her, that she forgot what she was going to say.

"Please chica, that don't scare me-" he chuckled and started to walk away, facing her "-but look behind you." Sheryl sighed and turned slowly, finding Sid anxiously shifting on his feet as he looked around at the crowd.

"Oh shit" he mimed when he spotted Sheryl with her hands on her hips and as she nodded, she started for him, the chase beginning as he took off. They ran four laps around the car they'd arrived in, used more then three people as obstacles and helpers in the chase before Sheryl had enough and with a loud war-cry threw herself forward and grabbed Sid around the waist and took him down with her. She quickly rolled him onto his stomach and sat on his back as she started her tickling.

"No! Sheryl!" Sid shrieked rather girlish and Sheryl laughed loudly and jubilantly at the switch in power, and laughed even louder after she almost fell over from his trashing.

"I told you Sid, I'll kill you!" She shrieked in victory as she found a particular spot that had him give off a loud guffaw and attacked that spot with a vengeance that surprised herself. After a few minutes, Sheryl was exhausted and leaned back with a hand pressed to her chest as she emitted tiny gasps of air. She frowned _'not now!'_ and slowly rolled off Sid to lie down on her side beside him, stretching out to try and get more air into her lungs and pressing her arms to something similar as the first-aid position. Beside her she could hear Sid breathe deeply from exhaustion with a few chuckles that slowly dwindled down and he shifted his head toward her.

"God you're scar-Hey what's wrong?" Sheryl tried to come up with a good lie to accompany her first fake laugh, but as she opened her eyes and found Sid's earnest brown eyes looking at her so worriedly, she just couldn't.

"I don't feel so good Sid" she murmured instead and closed her eyes when she heard how weak her voice were and how her eyes started to burn.

"Hey-" Sid mumbled worriedly and shifted closer to embrace her, an action that quickly had her starting to sob. There was a shadow over them from behind her back but Sheryl distantly heard Sid shush the person before nodding something with his head. The next second, she heard something being put down and then somebody laid down at her back and curled an arm around her waist from behind in comfort. That only made her sob harder, she didn't deserve people who were so kind as to lie down on the dirty ground to console her, but the arms around her tightened and the two body shifted closer. Ten minutes later, and they were still in the same spot, but four people had staggered up to them. One genuinely asking if everything was all right, and three making stupid and leering comments that got them with both scowls and birds in response. As Sheryl shifted, the two boys understood she'd fallen asleep and after bickering for a few seconds, Jay hoisted her up into his arms and carried her to the backseat in the car they'd arrived in where she continued to take a nap. They'd argued over who was going to stay with Sheryl, something that Sid insisted somebody should, and in the end the ticket fell on Stephen's silent friend. He wasn't a skater and not all that interested in taking a second look at some big cement pipes so with a shrug he'd taken a seat on the hood of the car and started to nod as a girl chatted to him.

"No 'funny' business man, or you're dead. And afterwards we'll sick her father on you" Sid interrupted the girl and made sure that he had their attention, Jay standing behind him snickering at the last one while being impressed with Sid's newfound confidence, and they both gave Stephen's friend each a last significant look before skating off.

****  
Sheryl woke up to the low humming of an engine and the clearer sounds of chuckles and snickers. She shifted and realized that she had her face hidden in the crook of somebody's neck and leaning on that somebody's chest. She looked up and blinked slowly at the harsh light, to see Maroni smirking at her and Jay stare at her from behind him. Sid glanced back from the driver-seat to chuckle before glancing at Stephen who sat staring straight on forward and sipping on a bottle of beer. She was leaning back against the left corner in the back, looking from the front, and sat side-ways on the person under her with her feet on the seat between her and Maroni. She didn't hear the guys start laughing as it registered on her face that she was sitting in the lap of Stephen's silent friend who was sleeping. The person in question cleared his throat and hugged her closer, giving Sheryl no other choice but to lean back.

"I am such a hussy-" Sheryl murmured and grinned minimally at Jay "-I don't even know his name." She was relieved to see his amused smirk but she rubbed her face tiredly with a sigh as she realized that they had at least ten-to twenty minutes left of their ride. She gave off a loud yelp as the whole car suddenly jumped as it sped over a road-bump and looked down as arms tightened around her waist.

"Hey baby." His voice was low and husky from sleep and Sheryl found herself swallowing nervously when Maroni thankfully starting laughing.

"Um, I'm really not your baby" Sheryl said slowly and looked to Jay pleadingly for help, but merely sighed when he gave her a blank stare. What was he supposed to do?

"So she's that comfy huh?" Maroni leered and smirked as his friend finally seemed to startle awake. He gave her a long stare and Sheryl swallowed nervously.

"Don't look at me, I woke up like this in your stranglehold, you were the one last awake." As if being reminded he still had his arms around her, he winced as if burned and gave Maroni a murderous, warning, glare. Sheryl tensed and sat stiff as a board, giving Jay nervous looks while he looked down to her waist with regular intervals.

"There we are, 'casa y Jay'" Sid's voice came from the front seat with a bad Latin accent.

"Great!" Sheryl exclaimed and tried to jump out of the car together with Jay and Sid but felt arms hinder her as they curled around her waist.

"My name is Aidan." He smirked at her dumb look of shock and helped her out to the sound of Maroni's chuckles.

"Asshole" she muttered and glared at Aidan as he walked around the car to take a seat in the driver-seat. She looked in at Stephen and smiled a goodbye, walking up to the window and leaning over.

"Thanks for today, in spite of the fact that I made a fool out of myself for the most of it, I had fun." She sighed and bit her lip as he kept on staring forward, leaning closer and lowered her voice so only he could hear.

"We tried and it's quite clear that we're too different, but we'll always have the chemistry so who knows-"she shrugged, blushed and made a nervous laugh as his eyes snapped to her "-we might hang out." She winked exaggerated and gave a small wave to the other two before she walked back to Jay and Sid who stood chatting as they waited for her. She took each boy's arm and curled them around one of her own and walked the thirteen steps they could walk in width.

"Thanks guys, for earlier today." Sheryl smiled at Sid and felt it waver under Jay's stare.

"You wanna share?" Sheryl sighed and bit her lip at Jay's gruff question, looking at her feet as she kicked the ground.

"I can't." She expected protests, a big blow-up, but Jay merely stopped and took a step closer to her and had her raise her head.

"You won't, you mean?" He sighed when she nodded and he glanced back to Sid who turned the other way and stared at the sky as if he'd just spotted a flying elephant.

"There's nothing you say that will chase us away nugget. We'll be here when you finally break, and we'll support you just as much then too." Sheryl smiled at the nick-name and just shook her head at how he never stopped to surprise her and jumped to give him a hug, smiling widely as his arms came around her and hugged her back. His hands burning her back through her t-shirt.

"You guys ready?"

"Shut up Sid, we're having a moment" Sheryl mumbled and Jay chuckled before he withdrew and ruffled her hair.

"Last one up has to fix dinner" Sid's yell came when the two boys had started running and were halfway up, laughing when Sheryl scowled deeply and muttered: "Boys!"

****  
"Have you guys heard anything from Stacey or Tony?" Only Sid looked up as if acknowledging her question, from his seat on her porch. The two boys had surprised her, and her father for that matter, by showing up at her door as daughter and father was having breakfast, and after a few minutes of awkward 'meet and greet' the three kids went upstairs to Sheryl's room. They moved out onto her porch when she found Jay immediately move to her underwear drawer and go through it with leers.

"What about you?" he asked after shaking his head in negative. Sid was leaning back against the wall beside the window out while Jay was lying on the rug-covered floor with his shirt under his head and Sheryl leaning her head on the side of his stomach while his left foot kept up a steady tapping. She leaned up on her elbows and smiled at Sid, but leaned back as he leaned his head on the wall and closed his eyes against the sun.

"I got a call from Michael earlier in the week where he said that things are going well but that the real competition is between Tony and Stacey. Stacey apparently got to meet 'Charlie's Angels' and almost killed that moon-guy." The three of them chuckled and Sheryl started to talk again to disguise the fluttering she got from the vibrations Jay's body sent her.

"Tony is doing all kinds of photo shoots and has signs with his name all over the place." Sheryl looked at Jay who had his jaw locked and his leg had stopped it's insistent tapping, so with a shrug from Sid she pushed up her yellow and purple hippie glasses further up on her nose she leaned back onto his stomach. He tensed at the extra weight but slowly relaxed and unnoticeable started to twirl a few of Sheryl's loose curls.

"I haven't heard anything about my board" he muttered and Sheryl glanced at Sid who shifted and stared down at his feet instead of the bright sky as he leaned back against the wall.

"Why don't you just change sponsors Jay, there's still some offers-"

"I can't Sheryl! You know that!" Jay growled and Sheryl shifted, but nodded and leaned her head back in a try to catch the last sun for the day. She felt Jay tug at a strand of her hair and then twirl some around his fingers, and she took that as a somewhat peace offering.

"You just have such talent Jay! Peggy got recruited just two weeks ago and she doesn't have half the talent you do!" Sheryl sat up and turned her whole body toward him so he had to look up and face her, as she looked at him beseechingly; ignoring Sid's protests and encouragement to stay quiet.

"What if I work and you can get the money for rent and things from me, as a loan until-" she winced into silence when he growled out loud and sat up and leaned on his hands threateningly over her.

"I've told you Sheryl to shut up about that. Don't think I don't know that it's you who are paying for the groceries when you insist on going shopping with mom, and I appreciate that Sheryl but one can only take so much charity." She frowned insulted and affronted.

"It's not charity-" she began heatedly but Jay quickly interrupted.

"The what do you wanna call it Sheryl? I can't pay you back!" He grabbed his shirt, stood up and walked off. Sheryl closed her eyes and sagged dejected as Sid stood as well.

"I've told you to drop it Sheryl. I know-" he agreed when she made a move to interrupt "-that you only mean well, but look at it from his point of view. He'll calm down and then you can apologize." He patted her on the arm before he too was out. Sheryl sighed, it was too quiet now, and glanced down when she heard her front door slam and watched Sid stroll down the street with his hands down his pockets. She slowly stood and after tugging off her glasses, dived face down onto her bed and reached for a pillow to scream in when it was yanked out of her grasp and she was turned around. She shrieked in surprise but calmed down when she found Jay's face over her, showing a mix of amusement and determination. She distantly had the revelation that she'd only heard the front door once, and that was when Sid left. The only thing that her brain really could concentrate on however was the fact that she was lying on her bed with a half naked Jay Adams leaning over her. She opened her mouth to say something, but he quickly shushed her.

"Sheryl, this is one of those times when you are to be quiet and just listen. Okey?" She slowly nodded and slowly sat up as he leaned back.

"From the first time I met you, when Stacey introduced you at the foodcourt, I've had a hard time placing you. I was surprised that I'd never seen you, later I understood it was cause you were a studier and myself was a 'skipper' and later I mostly felt annoyance over the fact that you and Stacey seemed to hit it off so perfectly and you found each other in a friendship as obvious as mine and his. He was supposed to be _my_ best friend and then all of a sudden you just show up and I'm like forgotten. Then there's you and Tony, and you guys pretty much established your shit twenty seconds after meeting each other didn't ya?" He smirked as Sheryl snorted and rolled her eyes.

"So after that, you just seemed to be everywhere or on everybody's lips, talking about how nice you are and all that shit-" he smirked amused when she smiled happily at the compliment "-but when it came to her, you just seemed to be over it. But these last weeks we've gotten to know each other, sharing moments and kidding around. Really becoming _friends_." Sheryl smiled softly and nodded in earnest agreement, but his face clouded over.

"But we still have limitations and boundaries Sheryl. You're not telling everything so what makes you believe that you have the right to interfere with things not even my _girlfriend_ are allowed to?" Sheryl scowled at the mention of Kathy, she really couldn't stand the girl.

"I care about you Jay, I just want what's best-"

"I said be quiet." Sheryl scowled at his tone but for once kept quiet.

"From now on, that's none of your business." Sheryl locked her jaw and looked away but when she realized that he had no plan of relenting until she agreed, she turned back and looked him in the eyes as she slowly nodded. He stayed there for a few seconds, hovering over her, both silent in comradely silence and just looking at each other with kind eyes. He was one of the few that she could calmly look in the eye, for longer then ten seconds, and be comfortable in the silence. She gave him a soft smile and they both made a move to straighten up at the same time, Sheryl stealing his shirt for warmth as they walked down to the kitchen and made themselves something to eat. Ben sat in the living room with a content mind, listening to his daughter fix together dinner and laugh at something the boy said. The kid at least seemed to make her laugh, that had to count for something.

* * *

Hey everyone!

So what do we think? I am trying to speed up my dry brain but so far it's going slow.

Happy to hear what you think and I love the reviews you all have given me, even thogh I haven't responded.

I do appreciate them like you'll ever know.

Thanks! /Tilly.


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